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U/}e AZTECS 

(INDIAN RACES) 



BY 

A. VAN DOREN HONEYMAN 

Author of "Bright Days" Series 




Iboncgman Si Company? 
1905 



UBSAHYof OONSfltSS 
Two Copies Received 

FEB 23 1905 

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TAefe Azttan stood upon the fa.rther shore: 

Amid the shade of trees its d'Tvettings rose. 

Their tei)et roofs 'with turrets set around. 

And battlements all burnished 'white, %>hich shone 

Like sit<ver in the sunshine. I beheld 

The imperial city, her far-circling <walls. 

Her garden gro'hes and stately palaces. 

Her temples mountain size, her thousand roofs ; 

And l»hen I sa%> her might and majesty 

My mind tnisgave me, then* 

-^.Simthey's '' Madoc," Part f. Canto 6. 



6 



i.# 



Copyright, 1905, by 
HoNEYMAN & Company 

Published February i, 1905 



THE AZTECS 

(INDIAN RACES) 



Xibracs ot tbe Great MorlD 
mo. I 



LIBRARY OF THE GREAT WORLD 

COMPRISING ORIGINAL VOLUMES OF 

Iblstor^, JS{ograpbi2, Science, Q:ravel, iBtc, 

In cloth and tnorocco, zvith frontispiece. Published 

for subscribers at 30 cents in cloth^ and 

4S cents in morocco, 

EDITED BY 

A. VAN DOREN HONEYMAN 



THE AZTECS. By The Editor. 

NEXT TWO VOLUMES: 

HOW THE WORLD WAS MADE. By Wm. H. 

lyARRABEE, IX,, D. 

IN REINDEER I^AND. By The Editor. 

SUCCEEDING VOLUMES: 

THE PATAGONIANS, (Indian Races). 
JAPAN, the Flowery Kingdom. 
VOYAGES TO THE NORTH POI^E. 
EARTHQUAKES AND VOI^CANOES. 
Etc., Etc., Etc. 




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" Creation's heir, the world, the world is mine." 

Oliver Goldsmith. 



THE AZTECS 

(1090-1521) 

Preliminary Word. — " My beloved daughter, 
very dear little dove, you have already heard and 
attended to the words w^hlch your father has told 
j^ou. They are precious words, and such are 
rarely spoken or listened to. . . . My dear 
daughter, whom I tenderly love, see that you live 
in the world in peace, tranquility and content- 
ment, all the days that you shall live. See that 
you disgrace not yourself, that you stain not your 
honor, nor pollute the lustre of fame of your an- 
cestors." Such are the beginning and the end- 
ing of the written advice of an Aztec mother to 
her first-born daughter, written probably five hun- 
dred years ago — almost a century before Colum- 
bus discovered America — when the various Indian 
tribes inhabiting the lands now occupied by most 
of those who may read this volume were semi- 
naked savages, " howling through the wilderness." 
Could it be that any mother possessing the virtues 
and the intelligence, the tenderness and the filial 

(5) 



6 THE AZTECS 

affection, of this unknown one — perhaps a chief- 
tain's wife, or a king's daughter — could have be- 
longed to a race akin to the same savages who 
roamed over the United States, scalped their ene- 
mies, and danced war dances with the scalps hang- 
ing from their belts? Must not such a people 
have been gentle, hospitable, peaceable, and far 
removed from such extreme of barbarism? 

The strange contradictions between the really 
splendid traits of the peculiar nation, or race, of 
Indians — so-called — who inhabited the great pla- 
teau in the centre of Mexico, long before the time 
when Cortes subdued it and set up a kingdom of 
** New Spain " in America, and the despicable and 
bloody religious rites which they daily celebrated 
before their idols, are, indeed, an anomaly in the 
history of mankind. It is to look a little into the 
life and beliefs, the greatness and the weakness, 
the rise and the downfall of this peculiar people 
that we shall now have to do, and the story is 
intensely interesting. 

Who were the Aztecs ?--This is a question 
easily ^ asked, but which the wisdom of the 
historian may never answer. How may it be 
answered, indeed, when no one can tell whence 
came the other Indian tribes of America, or the 
Eskimos, or the Patagonians, or the singularly 
rich and powerful Peruvians? Who knows the 
origin of the savages on the little island of San 
Salvador in the West Indies, who capered about 
in picturesque costumes when Columbus first saw 
land in 1492? Yet some form an hypothesis, and 
are disappointed if it be not accepted by the gen- 



HISTORY 7 

eral public. The best we can do, however, Is to 
point to certain known, and to certain probable 
facts and traditions, and then to draw reasonable 
conclusions. 

Before we do this, however, let us get clearly 
in mind the more prominent theories which have 
been held by different writers concerning the orig- 
inal home of this queer, strange people; or, rather, 
of all the red, copper, olive, or brown nations, 
races, or tribes, which inhabited North and 
South America before white men came over to this 
country from Europe. 

The French archaeologist and ethnologist, Bras- 
seur ( 1 814-1874), held that, six or seven thousand 
years ago, there was the subsidence of a continent 
between Africa and America, as traditions of it 
were preserved in ancient Mexican manuscripts, 
and that this continent almost made a bridge be- 
tween the East and the West. This is but a repe- 
tition of the story of the large, now submerged, 
island of Atlantis, described by Plato. St. Au- 
gustine (354-430) intimated his belief that, "as 
by God's command at the time of the Creation, 
the earth brought forth the living creatures after 
his kind, so a similar process must have taken 
place after the Deluge in islands " (and, of course, 
on continents, of which, then, he had no knowl- 
edge) " too remote to be reached by animals from 
the continent" of Asia; and, if there were new 
creations of animals, suggests Pritchard, an Eng- 
lish ethnologist (1786- 1848), why not of men? 
Beechey, the navigator (1796-1859), and Hum- 
boldt ( 1 769-1 859), after him, the latter being the 



8 THE AZTECS 

most eminent German scientist of his day, thought 
that the inhabitants of Eastern Tartary and Ja- 
pan could easily have steered their canoes from is- 
land to island across to America, " without ever 
being on the ocean more than two days at a 
time." 

It is a well-known fact that Japanese wrecks 
have been found, drifted by ocean currents to 
America, and it is believed they might sometime 
have had persons on them who reached this con- 
tinent.^ In a narrative of Hoei-Shin, a Buddhist 
monk of the Fifth Century, he claims that he vis- 
ited, in the year 499 A. D., a land east of China, 
which many of his countrymen, and others, have 
supposed was America. Southey wrote a poem on 
Prince Madoc, who was a legendary Welshman, 
and whom traditions say went west from Wales 
and reached a new world in 1 170. It is certain 
that the Norsemen went from Iceland about the 
year 900 and reached Greenland, which they sub- 
sequently colonized, and that in the year 1000 the 
same hardy class of voyagers, under Leif Ericson, 
reached ** Vinland," which is believed to have been 
the coast of Massachusetts.^ 

These suggestions and facts out of many are 
stated to show the possibility, if not probability, of 
the original races of America having come from 
Asia, or elsewhere, by crossing the seas. 

Sir Charles Lyell, the geologist (1797- 1875), 
is sure that the American continent was so reached 
in very ancient times. If reached, not once but at 
various times, then it is not improbable that all 
the early settlers of America were originally from 



HISTORY 9 

Asiatic races. It Is true, also, that the Peruvians, 
Mexicans, and other classes of Indians that 
stretched along from the Aleutian Islands to 
Peru, were of the same cranial type as the Mon- 
golians, and possessed, as to their pottery, inclina- 
tion to build mounds and pyramids, and mode of 
carrying on various arts, a striking likeness to 
many of the nations of ancient Asia and also to 
that of Egypt. Some of the ablest modern writers 
on the subject, like Bancroft of California, (still 
living), and Squler (i 821 -'88), have held that 
the probabilities are that the Mexican peoples 
came up from the south rather than down from 
the north. A few other writers, like Agasslz 
( 1 807-^73) and WInchell (i824-'9i), have held 
that all American Indian tribes were " probably 
Indigenous " and not migrators from Asia. 

But the trend of opinion is that, however the 
Peruvians came to be In their country, the Aztecs 
went into Mexico from the north, which Is ac- 
cording to their own traditions. For It Is certain 
that : ( I ) The Aztecs had traditions distinct and 
clear, picture-writings of which may still be seen, 
of their traveling from the north. (2) That they 
surely reached the plateau where is now the City 
of Mexico from the northern part of Mexico. 
(3) That they called the place in the far north 
from which they came, "Aztlan." (4) That they 
had neither traditions nor records that they had 
migrated from the south. 

Where "Aztlan " was. Is, as yet, a puzzle. 
As It simply means " the place of the Aztecs," It 
has no etymological significance. It was probably, 



10 THE AZTECS 

however, not Asia, nor any similar distant coun- 
try, but some place in New Mexico, Arizona, or, 
preferably. Southern California. It was where 
there was water, although, of course, it may have 
been by a lakeside instead of by the seaside. Dr. 
C. W. Zaremba, a recent enthusiastic student of 
Mexican history and a collector of Aztec sou- 
venirs, of Riverside, California, in an extensive 
article published in the Chicago Tribune of Sep-* 
tember 3, 1899, declares his belief that he has dis- 
covered the location of "Aztlan," and that it was 
on Santa Catalina Island, thirty miles west of the 
coast of California, and almost due south of Los 
Angeles. The Aztec picture-writings, some of 
which he possesses, clearly show the peculiar shape 
of the mountain in "Aztlan," from which that 
people started on their long journey, and it cer- 
tainly bears a striking resemblance to the moun- 
tain visible from Avalon harbor at Santa Cata- 
lina. 

We shall probably never know to a certainty 
where "Aztlan " was, but we may believe it to 
have been north of Mexico, and west of the Rocky 
Mountains, and also by the waterside. 

There are stone and earth ruins of various 
shapes, round, pyramidal and square, some of them 
where the stones are just as accurately squared as 
in the best Mexican buildings, all the way from 
the wonderful mound in Sonora in the northwest- 
ern part of Mexico, up to the curious clefts and 
high table-lands of Colorado. There were also 
mound-builders in Ohio and other states east of 
the Mississippi. These monuments, whether con- 



HISTORY II 

structed for purposes of religion, as tombs, or 
what-not, were the products of the hands of un- 
known former races or nations of men, and it is 
not illogical to ascribe some of them to the ances- 
tors of those who afterward peopled Mexico. 

But we must leave this intensely interesting 
subject for the archaeologist and ethnologist, and 
state the condition of things when the Aztecs did 
actually reach Mexico. 

First, however, let us note that the Aztecs were 
not the first Indians to reach the Valley of Mexi- 
co. They were preceded by many so-called " na- 
tions," or tribes, all of which have been classified 
by recent historians as belonging to two general 
groups, the Maya and the Nahua. The Mayas 
reached Mexico first, and their records indicated 
they came in the Fifth Century. The chief sub- 
division of the Mayas is known as the Toltec, and 
of the Toltecs we are certain of a few things. 

About the Toltecs. — There was a large, active, 
highly civilized people living at Tula, fifty miles 
north of the present City of Mexico, before the 
Aztecs settled at that identical spot in or about the 
year 1150. They took the name from Tula — or 
Tollan, as it was formerly called — or Tula from 
them; it is uncertain which. They spread out 
over much territory, and, possibly, not probably, 
built the pyramids and other enormous structures 
which exist to-day in a ruined state in various 
parts of central and southern Mexico. Few 
large, strictly-Aztec monuments now exist, for 
the Aztecs were not, when in Mexico at least, 
builders of great works that have remained to this 



12 THE AZTECS 

day; but Toltec ruins, or those of a more ancient 
race, are still scattered about in many places. 

The Pyramids of the Sun and Moon at San 
Juan Teotihuacan, twenty-five miles east of the 
City of Mexico, and the Pyramid of Cholula, 
near Puebla, are the most accessible important 
ruins near the capital, and it is certain they were 
there long before the Aztec domination. The 
Pyramid of Cholula the writer has stood upon, 
and it is to-day a lofty and most conspicuous ruin 
in the landscape. It is one hundred and seventy- 
seven feet high and measures nearly a thousand 
feet square at the base. The Pyramids of the 
Sun and Moon are not quite so large by circular 
measurement, but are immense; that of the Sun 
being two hundred and sixteen feet high and over 
seven hundred feet square at the base, and that of 
the Moon being over one hundred and fifty feet 
high and averaging four hundred and seventy feet 
square at the base. They are built of brick, stone 
and rubble. These pyramids were intended for 
temples to the sun, or to gods, such temples of 
stone and wood having been placed upon the 
summits. 

The Toltecs disappeared before the advance of 
the Aztecs, how or why we do not know, unless 
driven away by hostile tribes. They were one of 
a confederacy of nations that went to pieces be- 
fore the dawn of the Aztec nation. The Toltecs 
claimed, or others have claimed for them, that 
they also came from the north, and founded Tula 
about 648 A. D. ; if so, this was over five hun- 
dred years before the Aztecs reached Tula. They 



HISTORY 13 

are believed to have deserted Tula because disin- 
tegrated by a rebellion, and to have gone south to 
Cholula and vicinity ; and again still further south 
a hundred years before the Aztecs arrived at Tula. 
The date of the migration from Tula is said to 
have been 1103, or, according to better calcula- 
tions, 1 05 1. Before this disappearance from Tula, 
and beginning with about the year 839, their 
records contain accounts of nine ** kings " whose 
names are fairly well authenticated. 

It may be said, further, of the Toltecs, that 
even if they erected some of the high mounds and 
pyramids of Central Mexico, they left few writ- 
ten records, and few monumental inscriptions, 
and what have been found have not yet been de- 
ciphered. If they, and not a preceding people, 
also left the inscriptions on the much grander 
monuments of stone now to be found in southeast- 
ern Mexico, Yucatan and Guatemala, which are 
full of hieroglyphics and pictures, they might as 
well not have been made, for there is no one who 
has the key to their interpretation. 

The mystery about the Toltecs, as to their ori- 
gin, history and progress, and disappearance, is far 
greater than about the Aztecs. In consequence 
of the lack of decipherable records relating to 
them, everything that happened in Mexico prior 
to the Aztec age has, in many modern volumes, 
been referred to the Toltecs, without justification 
in any present known facts. We are only sure 
that they existed, were probably of the same 
(Nahua) nation, were powerful, were also build- 
ers, and had in them at least some of the same 



14 THE AZTECS 

real elements of high culture possessed by their 
Aztec successors. It is believed that they were 
far less cruel than the Aztecs ; possibly also, in a 
general way, were a better class with which to 
have founded a great American monarchy, had^ 
only the fates been kinder to them. M 

Other Native Races. — Tribes known as the 
Chicimecs are said to have come into the Valley 
of Mexico after the Toltecs, and certain of 
them by that name were there when the Aztecs 
arrived. But there were also other tribes, or sub- 
divisions of that tribe, there, although that par- 
ticular name is one much heard of in the early 
records. 

Almost at the same time, as it is thought, the 
Alcolhuans, whom we shall refer to hereafter as 
Tezcucans, arrived, and set up their abode at Tez- 
cuco, twenty miles northeast of the present city of 
Mexico. 

So much at present for the migrations of tribes 
from, probably, the north, to the region of the 
Valley of Mexico. The languages spoken by these 
various peoples were diverse, yet not wholly dis- 
tinct. The Nahuas, of whom the Aztecs became 
the most powerful and controlling, spoke what is 
called the Nahua (or Nahuatl) tongue; the na- 
tions to the far southeast, the Maya. We shall 
refer to the Nahua language later. 

The Aztec Chronology. — However early the 
Aztecs began their southward march from "Azt- 
lan," (which some who have computed their rec- 
ords state was in the year 1090 A. D., but oth- 



HISTORY 15 

ers make it later), tfiey arrived In Mexico and were 
at a place called Chicomoztec, about 11 16; and 
a little later at Tula, which had been abandoned 
by the Toltecs. From Tula they migrated to the 
Valley of Mexico, and settled at, or near, the hill 
of Chapultepec, about 11 94. During the next 
century, they had various engagements with neigh- 
boring tribes, and In 1297 were seriously over- 
thrown. At this time they were at Culhuacan 
(not Coyoacan), which was by Lake Xochlmilco. 
As a consequence, they were obliged to flee to an 
island called TIzaapan, perhaps In the same lake. 
In 1325 they decided to make their future 
home on marshy Islands near the western shore 
of Lake Tezcuco. Why they went there we are 
not informed. 

That year, then, 1325, Is to be taken as a real 
date in Aztec history; from that year begins the 
foundation of their metropolis and their start as a 
small, but vigorous and growing people. 

The Aztecs called the Mexican country where- 
in they made their home "Anahuac," which 
means " near the water," and that became for 
them afterward the name of their empire. 

What Anahuac Included. — Anahuac Included 
not only the present Valley of Mexico, but all 
the country of Mexico over which. In later years, 
the Aztecs gained control, extending from the Pa- 
cific to the Atlantic, and from north to south (so 
Humboldt says) between the fourteenth and 
twenty-first degrees of north latitude; that Is 
to say, from near southern Honduras In the south 
to about a hundred and twenty-five miles north 



i6 THE AZTECS 

of the present City of Mexico. From being a 
small number of people and occupying a few 
square miles by a lakeside in 1325, two hundred 
years later, in 1521, they held in subjection vari- 
ous alien tribes, embracing more than three hun- 
dred municipalities, extending over at least forty 
thousand square miles of territory, possessing in 
their, then, zenith of glory an empire of several 
millions of souls. In that short period of time 
they had become the most powerful, and, except 
the Tezcucans, the most civilized nation in North 
America. 

Aztec History in Brief. — The history of the 
Aztecs in Anahuac, from the founding of the 
City of Tenochtitlan to their conquest by Cortes, 
has been told many times. While enveloped in 
more or less of tradition, the story of their earlier 
years there is believed to be substantially as fol- 
lows: 

Tenochtitlan is said to mean " a cactus on a 
stone," and the name is significant of how the 
settlers came to build upon the islands of Lake 
Tezcuco. There grew on one of the islands a 
nopal, a species of cactus, out of a rocky base ; they 
saw a golden eagle perched upon it, and, viewing 
this sight, believing it to be a good omen, they 
decided to stop there and build. This may or 
may not be pure legend, but the Aztecs of a later 
day believed it, although there would seem to be 
more foundation for the alleged fact that Tenuch 
(said to have died in 1363) was the chieftain at 
the time the city was founded, and that its name 
was derived from him as the founder. The build- 



HISTORY 17 

ers chose with much foresight, if they themselves 
selected the spot instead of relying upon such a su- 
perstitious event. Like Venice, Tenochtitlan could 
be water-protected against enemies, so as to be 
almost unassailable, and, with the fortifications 
subsequently constructed, it became a city which 
was never captured until the final entry of Cortes. 

The original immigrants and settlers were few 
in number, but were the '* survival of the fittest " 
in general vigor. Whatever they were as to 
civilization, they were certainly not ruder than 
the first Angle and Saxon colonists of England, 
or than the Norsemen of the Eighth Century. It 
is thought the whole number, when they entered 
Mexico, might not have exceeded a few hundred. 
They built reed houses of a primitive nature, but, 
in a few years, as the village grew, these gave 
place to structures of sun-dried brick and, even- 
tually, of stone, where the owners were able to 
afford it. 

When the period came for stone buildings, they 
found that the marshy islands were a poor foun- 
dation; so they used piles. In fact, to this day 
the City of Mexico rests largely upon piles, which 
accounts for so many buildings being out of 
plumb. 

Factional troubles led to some families going to 
the hilltop of Chapultepec, three miles distant, 
and others to Tlatelolco, also near by. The short 
distance between these schismatics and the parent 
tribe proves they were in the whole composed 
of but a handful at most; otherwise they would 
have needed to have gone further to allow for 



i8 THE AZTECS 



I 



sustenance and growth. They were not, there- 
fore, like the Israelites on their entry into Ca- 
naan, two millions or more strong, but simply a 
few, brave adventurers and travelers ; a mere 
company of a regiment of a division of the larger 
army of ** Indian " peoples that had for centuries 
been populating Mexico from the north ; perhaps, , 
also, from the south. ^ 

The settlers on this Venetian-like site also be- 
came expert boatmen, and canoes, made out of 
single trunks of large trees, capable of holding 
from two to sixty men, were much employed for 
all purposes of local transportation. They con- 
nected together the islands, and also the mainland, , 
with long embankments of earth and rubble work, 
using drawbridges with which they might at any 
time sever the connection. These embankments 
were always dangerous ways for any bodies of 
foreign troops to march over, since they could be 
attacked from the water on both sides. They also 
built canals through the most of their streets, and, 
in time, these connected nearly all quarters of the 
city by direct water communication. 

By the year 1350 the village had become a city 
in size, and the people were numerous enough to 
demand more than the ordinary tribal organiza- 
tion they had hitherto possessed. That they had 
war chieftains and leaders before this period there 
is no doubt, and the names of these have come 
down to us as those of " kings." But we pass the 
names by, because of their doubtfulness, and be- 
cause the facts become much more clear after the 
popular election held in 1350, in which everybody, 



HISTORY 19 

including the women, voted, and at least the first 
" king " to rule over the Aztecs as residents of 
Tenochtitlan was chosen. He, and the preceding 
chieftains before him, must have belonged to what 
was considered the " blood-royal," for all subse- 
quent kings were selected from the same line. 

The result of this election was the establishment 
of a military., democracy. The chieftain elected 
came to be recognized as, practically, a monarch; 
but it was a military democracy, because, as to all 
leading officials, there were popular elections ; and 
because, as war was about to be the chief end of 
that generation and of succeeding ones, at least 
until the city became a nation and could spell its 
name with a large N, the king selected was always 
one who had proved his ability as a warrior. The 
historical kings from this time until the days of 
the last Montazuma, were in this order: 

I. Acamapichtli H. (meaning " Handful-of- 
reeds "), a son of Acamapichtli I., who was prob- 
ably their ruler while the Aztecs were at Culhua- 
can. He was selected as the first king of Tenoch- 
titlan and held office for fifty-three years. He 
built some canals, and under his administration 
stone buildings began to appear. But during his 
reign the Aztecs were obliged to pay tribute to 
the Tepanecs, a tribe on the west border of the 
lake. For the first time gold-workers came into 
the settlement from some outside locality and be- 
gan to ply their art. 

H. Huitzilihuitl H. (" Humming-bird "), son 
of the preceding, was elected king in 1403. Un- 
der him a primitive but actual code of laws c?im€ 



20 THE AZTECS 

into existence. He is said to have promoted indus- 
try, inaugurated rules of trade, and encouraged 
the making of floating gardens. He is supposed to 
have been the first chieftain who was buried on 
**The Hill of the Grasshopper," as Chapultepec 
signifies; and thereafter the so-called kings were 
buried on that mount, which became known as 
" the royal burying-place of the Aztecs." He 
died in 1417. 

HI. Chimalpopoca, brother to the last king, 
succeeded and reigned until 1428. What is 
called the " Codex Chimalpopoca," which has 
never been published, and which starts the history 
of the world from about 1000 B. C, is an Aztec 
manuscript of probably his reign, and may be the 
most ancient of preserved written Aztec docu- 
ments containing the national legends. He is 
believed to have been murdered. 

IV. Itzcoatl ("Obsidian-snake"). He was a 
brother to the preceding. Under him the chief 
hindrance to Aztec growth in the valley, the tribe 
of Tepanecs, whose home was only a few miles 
from Tenochtitlan, was overthrown and it was 
made tributary. At the same time the Alcolhuans 
— the Tezcucans — entered into an alliance with 
the Aztecs, defensive and offensive, in which the 
Tepanecs joined, and so the first Aztec military 
confederation of three tribes was established. The 
combination was powerful enough to seek con- 
quests of outside territory and tribes. One by one 
other tribes were overcome, or treated with, and 
the Confederacy rapidly grew. Itzcoatl died in 
1440, after a short but glorious leadership. 



HISTORY 21 

V. Moteczuma, or perhaps more correctly, in 
the Aztec tongue, Motecahzoma; usually, how- 
ever, known as Montezuma I. (" Wrathy 
chief"), nephew of Itzcoatl, succeeded, and for 
twenty-nine years was king. He was not tl^e 
Montezuma of Cortes day, but a great-grand- 
father as we understand the pedigree of this 
" royal " family. He was quite a temple-builder, 
obtaining for that purpose skilled architects from 
Tezcuco and elsewhere, and he set the fashion of 
erecting temples to the honor of the gods of for- 
eign provinces conquered. 

VI. Axayacatl the Terrible ( " Face-In-the- 
Water"), grandson of the preceding, followed 
in 1469, and at this period the bloody custom, 
which had already grown up, of sacrificing human 
beings on the temple altars, assumed enormous 
proportions. The victims were usually those ta- 
ken captive in war, some of whom were retained 
as slaves, and others used for sacrifice. Axayacatl, 
before his coronation, descended upon the Pacific 
coast, secured many thousands of captives, striking 
terror In all directions, and brought them back 
in his train with unusually rich spoils. He died 
in 1481. 

VII. Tizoc ("Wounded leg"), brother to 
Axayacatl, had a brief administration; he was 
poisoned in i486 by a woman, who brought him 
the fatal cup. He either began, or continued to 
its practical completion, the construction of the 
Great Teocalli in Tenochtitlan, which was ded- 
icated by his successor. 

VIII. Ahuitzotl ("Water-rat"), brother to 



22 THE AZTECS 



I 



Tizoc, succeeded, and of him the history grows 
more full of detail. At the very beginning of his 
career, which extended over sixteen years, the 
ceremonies attending the completion of the Great 
Teocalli — the large temple of the Aztec war-god 
in the centre of Tenochtitlan — called forth, as is 
computed, more than a million of people from all 
parts of the country, even from hostile provinces. 
What this temple was will be described hereaf- 
ter. The ceremonies attending the induction of 
its high priest into office, and the other dedicatory 
formalities, were as si^lendid as they were bar- 
baric. It was in the very year of his elevation to 
power that this occurred, i486 (or 1487), six 
years before Columbus discovered America. At 
this time the united Confederacy must have out- 
grown all former proportions and strength, be- 
cause there were led up into that temple, on the 
day of its dedication, thousands upon thousands 
of victims to be sacrificed. Various accounts, by 
both native historians and Spanish writers, give 
the number all the way from twenty thousand to 
eighty thousand. The king, officiating as high 
priest, began the ferocious work with his own 
hand, and was followed by the priests, each of 
whom slaughtered until physically unable to carry 
on the performance. Two long lines of victims 
stretched far out to and over the causeways of the 
city. No such extensive slaughter had been 
known before, or was known afterward, in Ana- 
huac. This king led his armies frequently to bat- 
tle, and in at least one engagement (in 1494) was 
badly defeated and his son slain. Some of his 



HISTORY 23 

wars were waged far south of Anahuac. This 
ruler also performed a public service intended to 
bring him honor, but which nearly cost him his 
life. He found Lake Tezcuco becoming low at 
times; gradually drying up around its borders. 
He feared — what has since happened, though- long 
after his day — that it would make the island part 
3f the mainland, and so endanger the city's isola- 
tion. With the best intent he constructed an 
aqueduct from large springs at Chapultepec, so as 
to refill the lake. In one rainy season, it is said, 
this conduit burst in the city, and almost drowned 
3ut his people. It is quite certain, however, that 
the lake itself, which is lower than the surround- 
ng lakes that drain into it, rose up and caused 
the destruction. The water went into the king's 
bedchamber and he had to escape in haste. He 
lied in 1503. 

[ IX. Montezuma II. — the " Coward," as his 
rellow countrymen afterward termed him — of 
:he Spanish Conquest days, with whose reign of 
eventeen years our readers must be more familiar 
:han with that of any of his predecessors, was a 
;on of Axayacatl, and great-grandson of Monte- 
zuma I. We shall describe him as soon as we 
)ring up the events that brought Montezuma and 
:he great conqueror, Cortes, face to face. 

How Cortes met Montezuma. — The whole ca- 
*eer in Mexico of Hernando Cortes reads like the 
•omance of a novelist. With so few men, a mere 
landful of Spanish adventurers, he held, not one, 
)ut various powerful tribes and warlike peoples, 
lumbering hundreds of thousands, at bay, month 



24 THE AZTECS 



i 



by month, while advancing in easy stages from 
the seacoast at Vera Cruz to the capital, over two 
hundred miles in the interior. 

Cortes was born in Spain in 1485. When nine- 
teen years old he went to Santo Domingo, and,, 
later, when twenty-six years of age, he joined ther 
expedition of Velasquez to take possession ofr 
Cuba. Velasquez, as governor of that island,, 
appointed him a judge, (a local alcalde), and ini 
this office he exhibited unusual ability. He was> 
handsome and fond of military life, and so Ve-- 
lasquez appointed him to go to Mexico to take- 
possession, in the name of Spain, of all the landl 
he might find, that country having been discov- 
ered, two years before, by Cordova.^ There weree 
hitches about his starting, and Cortes, wearying off 
the delay, and selecting about eight hundred mem 
and ten cannon,^ unexpectedly set sail in elevena 
vessels. He landed at Vera Cruz April 21, I5I9»^) 
and, in less than seven months' time, on Novem-t- 
ber 8, he had fought a score of battles, won themnj 
all, and entered the City of Tenochtitlan as thee 
guest of Montezuma. On August 13, 1521 — 
less than two years thereafter — there was a total I 
end of the Aztec empire. 

Previous to his final entry into the country at 
Vera Cruz, Cortes effected a temporary landing 
on the banks of the river now called Rio de Ta- 
basco, over two hundred miles east-southeast from 
Vera Cruz. Here he had a conflict with a war- 
like tribe of many thousand warriors and won hii; 
first signal victory. In his terms of peace at th(f 
close of the engagement, a number of Indiann 



HISTORY 25 

women were presented to him as slaves, one of 
whom was called Malintzin, who afterward went 
among the Aztecs by the name of " Malinche," 
and among the Spaniards by the familiar name of 
" Dona Marina," (Lady Marina). It is said she 
was exceedingly beautiful, as well as sagacious, 
and she soon became so accomplished in the arts 
of interpretation and statecraft that her services 
proved invaluable throughout all the future his- 
tory of Cortes in Mexico. Being acquainted with 
the Nahua language, spoken by the Aztecs, and 
also the related jargons of the coast-Indians, she 
was enabled to interpret what was said later by 
the messengers of Montezuma to Aguilar, who in 
turn interpreted to Cortes. Aguilar was also dis- 
covered on the coast about this time and, with 
Marina, shares the credit of assisting Cortes in 
his difficult intercourse with the natives. He was 
a Spaniard, who, some years before, had been 
shipwrecked on the coast of Yucatan and thus 
understood the language of the coast-Indians. He 
came into the camp of Cortes, being glad to re- 
turn again from savage to more civilized life. 

Cortes carried through his campaign two red 
banners, on at least one of which were the words, 
in Latin, " Friends, let us follow the Cross, and 
under this sign, having faith, we shall conquer." 
One of these banners, small and containing a 
beautiful face of the Madonna, may now be seen 
in the National Museum in the City of Mexico, 
while the other, which was perhaps the more 
highly valued by the Spaniards themselves, hav- 
ing in after years been presented to the chiefs of 



26 THE AZTECS 



» 



the Tlascalan nation, has ever since remained in 
possession of the municipal authorities of the town 
of Tlascala, which still exists and bears that name. 
It is of silk brocade, faded to a light maroon, some 
eight feet long by six broad, cut in " swallow- 
tail " fashion. The spear and part of the broken 
staflF are still preserved. 

At Vera Cruz Cortes learned definitely of the 
position and elegance of the capital of the Aztecs, 
and he soon set out to reach it. Being now visited 
by nobles who had been sent out by Montezuma, 
he expressed to them his intention of visiting the 
capital to see for himself how powerful and rich 
their king was. Montezuma had heard of the 
** white men " as soon as they had landed, from 
his couriers, who were constantly bringing him 
information as to new events in the empire. He 
had heard of their victory at Rio de Tabas- 
co, and was anxious to learn more of the vic- 
tors. Cortes had not proceeded far, when 
he learned of the Tlascalans as the most 
formidable enemies of the Aztecs. They lived 
in the mountains about one hundred and 
twenty miles west of Vera Cruz, and boasted 
of three hundred thousand people. The modern 
town of the same name is located in the valley 
near the mountains, and contains to-day only four 
thousand people. It was about half way on the 
direct road to Tenochtitlan, and it is presumed 
their city and surrounding villages embraced 
scarcely more than fifty square miles of territory. 
They were a brave and proud tribe, who had 
always refused to pay tribute to Montezuma or 



I 



HISTORY 27 

hfs predecessors. The foresight of Cortes, which 
was equal to every emergency, served him now, 
for he immediately decided to attach this alien 
nation to his cause. The Tlascalans, however, 
were unwilling to treat with him, and undertook 
to defeat his progress. Cortes and his men, by 
great bravery and by the use of cannon and cav- 
alry, fought on successive days several tremendous 
battles, which eventuated in complete victory ; and 
so complete was the victory that a treaty of peace 
was made, in which the Tlascalans agreed to quar- 
ter the army of Cortes until it was ready to move 
on, and also to furnish troops to aid him in any 
conflict with the Aztecs. Thereafter this nation 
was always his friend, and only by their aid was 
the final conquest not a complete disaster. Cortes 
desired them to change their religion, but this he 
could not accomplish, although they agreed not to 
have further human sacrifices. 

South of Tlascala was Cholula, now a small 
and miserable place of four thousand inhabitants, 
then the abode of perhaps fifty thousand souls. 
Cortes said it had twenty thousand houses. It 
was the most sacred place in Mexico, for reasons 
to be stated presently. The people of Cholula 
invited Cortes to their city and certain events de- 
cided him to accept the invitation. 

One was the disaffection among his soldiers, 
which came near terminating his campaign. They 
had already grown weary of battles and priva- 
tions, and demanded that they should be returned 
to Cuba. To overcome this unwillingness to pro- 
ceed, Cortes performed a most daring act, which 



28 THE AZTECS 

necessitated the future cooperation of his troops; 
he went back to Vera Cruz and directed a com- 
mission to report that, after examination of the 
vessels, which had been left there in the harbor, 
they found the same to be unseaworthy, and, on 
the reception of this report, he ordered them to 
be dismantled and sunk. When this was done, 
there was nothing left for the troops but to go 
forward. 

Another event which also happened about this 
time was the reception of a second embassy from 
Montezuma, who had now become thoroughly 
alarmed at the progress and achievements of these 
" white men." The embassy consisted of five no- 
bles and two hundred slaves, who brought three 
thousand ounces of gold, several hundred richly 
decorated mantles and much beautiful feather- 
work. They begged Cortes to accept the presents, 
but to come no further, as it was " unsafe," de- 
claring that Montezuma could not control his 
affiliated tribes sufficiently to insure the safety of 
Cortes in reaching Tenochtitlan. Cortes said to 
the embassy that he was commissioned by his au- 
gust majesty, the King of Spain, to convey the re- 
spects of his king to Montezuma and that he must 
do it in person. 

So Cortes, on the whole, determined it best to 
turn aside to Cholula, and he probably desired to 
see what was then such a remarkable city. Cho- 
lula, according to the accounts, had some four 
hundred temples, but the chief one was upon an 
immense pyramidal mound, and was sacred to 
Quetzalcoatl. He will be described more minutely 



II 



HISTORY 29 

when we come to name the chief gods known to 
the Aztec religion. It is enough to say now that 
he was supposed to have been a white leader of 
men, who, after living in Cholula, went away 
suddenly, prophecying that he would return, and 
all the nations of Anahuac honored him as a divin- 
ity of peculiar sanctity. 

After visiting the city and temple, Cortes be- 
came aware of a contemplated act of treachery 
on the part of the Cholulans, who, perhaps, had 
been induced to it by the emissaries of Monte- 
zuma, and he made an indiscriminate slaughter of 
three thousand of them, without giving them op- 
portunity to defend themselves. The event oc- 
curred in the great square of Cholula, to which 
Cortes had invited the chiefs, and where Cortes 
and his Tlascalan allies had come in such num- 
bers that, at a word, the Cholulans could be shot 
down in cold blood, being unprepared for defence. 
This conduct upon the part of Cortes may have 
been merited, but few believe it, and it was long 
— by many it is yet — held to be a great and last- 
ing stain upon the Conqueror's name. 

The march forward being resumed, and the 
once great volcanoes, Popocatepetl and Iztacci- 
huatl, (the first meaning " the hill that smokes " 
and the second " the white woman " ) , being 
passed, they came to many settlements, including 
some large cities, but had to fight no battles. 
There was terror over the country created 
by two distinct but vividly impressed opinions: 
the first, that these "white strangers" had 
monsters with them (horses), that carried 



30 THE AZTECS 

men on their backs, and also big iron af- 
fairs on wheels (cannon), that of their own ac- 
cord belched forth fire and destruction, and it 
was useless to oppose their progress; the second, 
that, according to his own predictions, Quetzal- 
coatl, whom they expected might return at any 
time, would, on such return, preside over the des- 
tinies of the monarchy, and this might be he! 

When they reached a point from which they 
could see the Aztec capital in the distance, they 
beheld a sight that surprised them by its exten- 
siveness and beauty. However captivating this 
spectacle is now, then, when the City of Tenoch- 
titlan with its imposing Teocalli, the three large 
shimmering lakes of the valley, and the surround- 
ing hilltops crowned with edifices, came before 
the vision of the traveler, it must have been far 
more magnificent. This whole Valley of two 
hundred miles in circumference was then in the 
highest state of cultivation, abounding in villages 
and cities. Lake Tezcuco was a broad expanse, 
extending entirely around the City of Tenoch- 
titlan, and, besides the vast and green plateau on 
every hand, there was not a rounded eminence 
which was not made charming with towered 
temples and abundant foliage. 

Various pauses were made in the valley-cities 
and towns by the way, but on November 8, 15 19, 
Cortes entered the great capital of the Aztecs, and 
met Montezuma face to face. 

Description of Montezuina. — We are quite 
sure of our description of Montezuma, as he ap- 
peared on that memorable day and afterward, for 



HISTORY 31 

various chroniclers, who were with the Spaniards, 
have narrated it. He was at this time about forty 
years of age (having been born in 1479) ;5 was 
tall and thin; had black hair, quite coarse, like 
his countrymen, but not long. His beard was full 
but thin, and his expression was serious, his be- 
havior ** dignified and sedate." There are pic- 
tures of him extant, but they are not believed to 
have been painted until some years after his death. 
When Montezuma was elected king, he was one 
of the priests of the Great Teocalli — some think 
the supreme high priest — and had also achieved 
an excellent record as a soldier in battle. He was 
of the blood-royal, and one of the most popular 
of the priests. After he began to reign in 1503, 
this popularity continued, until about ten years 
later, when he became unpopular because of the 
grievous taxes he imposed on his people and the 
affiliated nations, and because of his assumption 
of the powers of legislator as well as sovereign. 
Until this time in his reign the laws were made 
by the king and his council, but now he took the 
matter of legislation into his own hands. It is 
said that his name meant " sad," or " severe " 
man, but there is no evidence of his wearing more 
than a serious countenance before Cortes made 
him a prisoner. When notified of his election by 
the people as their chief, he was found engaged in 
sweeping the stairs of the temple, and he at once 
professed unfitness for the office. It is not too 
much to say that he felt his un worthiness at that 
moment, but that he was unfit when the real test- 
ing-time of a brave warrior and monarch came the 



32 THE AZTECS 

events of 15 19 proved. He could have saved his 
empire from foreign domination had he continued 
his popularity until the fatal year arrived, or had 
he early in 15 19 struck the decisive blow. But he 
hesitated to compel Cortes to retreat to the coast, 
and until the day of his death was a waverer. In 
this connection it must be remembered, however, 
that his superstition about the reappearance of 
Quetzalcoatl, and his fears that Cortes was that 
god come back to Anahuac, may have had much to 
do with his indecision. 

The formal address made to him on his induc- 
tion into office was preserved by his scribes, and 
furnishes a fair specimen of the best Indian ora- 
tory of that day. Montezuma is said to have 
been m.oved to tears by this address. Following 
the address, he was crowned, the crown being in 
shape like a mitre, the forepart standing erect 
above the forehead and the back part hanging 
down behind the neck. It was probably made of 
thin plates of gold. 

Probably before this coronation day, but after 
his first anointing, Montezuma entered upon his 
first war, as king, with a rebel province not far 
away for the purpose of bringing back captives 
to be sacrificed, as one of the incidents of his coro- 
nation, on the sacrificial altar. In this war he was 
successful and took to his city many victims. He 
frequently afterwards led his troops to battle and 
usually won every conflict. His predecessors had 
carried their warfare as far south as Guatemala 
and Honduras, and Montezuma, at least once, 
went to Nicaragua and gained victories. Under 



HISTORY 33 

him the Aztecs became the foremost and most 
powerful nation in all Mexico. His chief op- 
ponents thereafter were the Tlascalans, whom 
Montezuma undertook several times to chastise, 
but in one of his engagements with them he was 
thoroughly defeated and his own son slain. The 
Tlascalans, however, could not, or did not, push 
their victory on that occasion to any further con- 
clusion, though always refusing afterward to pay 
tribute to the Aztecs, as did the other nations. 

The laws of Montezuma were severe and en- 
forced with strictness. He would sometimes pa- 
trol the streets of the capital at night, in disguise, 
to see if these laws were violated. He communi- 
cated constantly with all parts of his country, by 
means of swift-running couriers, there being re- 
lays of them on the great roads every six miles. 
He erected many new, and embellished the old, 
temples, and in 15 12 he dedicated a new and large 
sacrificial stone with 12,000 captives obtained 
from a revolting province. In his day, Tenoch- 
titlan became, perhaps, the greatest city in the 
number of its temples and priests in all the world. 
Many of the temples were small, but the idea was 
that there should be no excuse for the people in 
each separate square of houses in the city from 
having temple services performed for them, al- 
most at their doors, as often as was required. 
Having been a priest, and believing the daily 
worship of the gods an essential to morality and 
the true basis for happiness in the world to come, 
he was their patron to an unprecedented extent. 

To construct and maintain so many separate 



34 THE AZTECS 

structures and their administration required daily 
and nightly watchers almost innumerable. To 
care for all these priests and other helpers in 
Tenochtitlan, and elsewhere in his dominions, he 
was obliged to impose heavy tributes on the sub- 
servient tribes, and equally heavy taxes on his na- 
tion. About the same time he grew more and more 
despotic as to the character of his government, so 
that what had been a laudable kind of constitu- 
tional monarchy became pure despotism. 

No doubt the Aztecs as a people would have 
liked to have broadened and improved their own 
semi-free monarchical system, but Montezuma 
intervened and, besides becoming cruel and tyran- 
nical, grew to be selfish and luxurious. In the 
end his conduct aided to alienate the friendly 
tribes and weakened his nation in its vital points. 

As to his luxuriousness, all accounts agree that 
Montezuma took his meals alone in the large 
Hall of Audiences in his palace under conditions 
of prodigality. The cups from which he drank 
were of gold or pearl. He never used the same 
table utensils the second time. Several hundred 
young nobles were employed in bringing in vari- 
ous plates of food to be tasted as they were set 
down, at a time when Cortes was present, and it 
was said this was not uncommon. Each plate 
rested on a hot chafing dish. He changed his dress 
four times each day, and also took a daily bath. 
His clothing he never wore twice, but gave it 
away to his chief attendants. Swift couriers 
brought him fish that the day before had been 
swimming in the Gulf of Mexico. He had a 



HISTORY 35 

harem of a thousand wives — some say of three 
thousand — and in that respect was a " greater 
than Solomon." He had fifty sons and daugh- 
ters ; his father was reputed to have had one hun- 
dred and fifty. He had near his palace two 
menageries, various fishponds, and an enormous 
aviary of the rarest birds. He had a hunting park, 
an extensive garden of flowers, and, in going out 
to see them, or to and from his summer palace at 
Chapultepec, which was built on that hill in a 
grove of old and magnificent cypress trees, he was 
always carried reclining upon his litter. 

In a word, as he grew rich and strong in power, 
he became effeminate as well as despotic. In con- 
sequence of all these increasing vices, his empire 
was honeycombed with plots to dethrone him, but, 
up to the time of the arrival of Cortes, he had 
managed to hold his people together in fair sub- 
jection. 

We know his favorite beverage was, not pulque, 
but cacao, and many pitchers of it were prepared 
for his daily consumption. He was a great 
smoker, chiefly, however, of an intoxicating weed 
which the Spaniards called tobacco,^ and which 
was perfumed; and, while he smoked, he was 
fond of having exhibitions before him of jugglers 
and mountebanks, for which the Aztecs were fa- 
mous. 

The Meeting with Montezuma. — Cortes en- 
tered Tenochtitlan by the south causeway; the 
same, substantially, as the present south entrance 
into the City of Mexico. Then the waters of 
Lake Tezcuco sparkled in the sunshine around 



36 THE AZTECS 

all the city's boundary; now they are to be seen 
only from the top of the tall buildings and far in 
the distance. Cortes' own warriors numbered 
less than four hundred ; his Tlascalan allies were 
about six thousand. The route entering into the 
city passed by many suburban villages; there 
were some fifty of them in the environments. 
These, like the buildings of the capital itself, were 
not longer built of bamboo reeds; the Aztecs of 
even the smaller towns had passed that primitive 
stage long before, and had substantial homes. 
The waters were covered with thousands of ca- 
noes, the whole population, seemingly, coming out 
to meet the " white strangers." Before reaching 
the causeway itself, several hundred Aztec chiefs 
appeared to welcome their guests. Montezuma 
felt it was incumbent on him to seem to be hospi- 
table, as it might prevent bloodshed, and surely 
these strangers, he thought, who had come only 
to give presents and tender the respects of their 
foreign king, would not remain too long, and 
would then leave the country. 

These chiefs were dressed in rich costumes, hav- 
ing about their loins the same gaily colored sashes 
(the maxtli), which are still to be seen among the 
descendants of the Aztecs. Their mantles were 
embroidered in feathers, and their necks and arms 
were adorned with bracelets. Their ears and 
under-lips, or noses, had pendants of gold, or pre- 
cious stones. These chiefs helped to form the 
strange procession which now entered into the 
city. 

But this was not all of the procession, as it 



HISTORY 37 

wound its way to the emperor's palace. Monte- 
zuma, himself, came to meet Cortes, with his per- 
sonal retinue, and reached the incomers at a place 
about three squares south of the chief plaza, where 
stood both his palace and the Great Teocalli. The 
spot of the meeting is now pointed out as that 
where stands the Hospital de Jesus. He wore a 
square cloak and a rich girdle ; his feet were san- 
daled, the sandals having soles of gold ; his whole 
attire was sprinkled with precious and glittering 
stones. On his head were plumes of green feath- 
ers, his military head-dress. Cortes advanced be- 
yond his army, which now stopped, and, with two 
or three associates only, met the Aztec king, who 
had stepped out of his litter to approach Cortes, 
and came forw^ard leaning on the arms of four of 
his nobles, while other nobles held over him a 
canopy of feather-work, beautifully ornamented 
with silver and gold. 

No stranger meeting of two great men was ever 
chronicled. Cortes had come from a country 
which had no knowledge that such a land as 
Anahuac was in existence. He was, like Stanley 
in the midst of Africa, meeting the chiefs of a new 
race of barbarians. But there was this striking 
difference between the situations of Cortes and 
Stanley ; the latter knew he should meet only sav- 
ages ; Cortes knew he was among an opulent and 
highly civilized race of beings, among whom won- 
derful arts and even written records existed, and 
with whom gold was accounted as common as the 
feathers of fine birds or the products of the fields. 
Montezuma was looking for the first time into 



38 THE AZTECS 

the face of a white man, but, more than this, he 
might have been looking on the face of a god! 
His emotions must have been inexpressibly sad, 
but he concealed them well. Cortes was also per- 
turbed, but to outward appearances was calm, as 
well as self-reliant. 

Cortes, by his interpreter Marina, tendered his 
respects; Montezuma welcomed him to the city. 
Cortes then placed around the neck of the king 
a chain of colored crystal, and was about to em- 
brace him, but this Montezuma's aides prevented 
as shocking to their ideas of the sacredness of 
their emperor's person. Montezuma now resumed 
his position in his litter, after he had appointed his 
brother to convey Cortes and all his troops to the 
buildings made ready for them opposite to the 
Teocalli ; and soon after, when Cortes and his sol- 
diers were quartered in this guest-house, the king 
made his first official call to talk over the situa- 
tion. 

At this point let us take leave of these two men 
until we have had time to make a more detailed 
survey of the curious City of Tenochtitlan and of 
the Aztec people as Cortes found them. 

General Description of the Aztec City. — That 
Tenochtitlan was a fair and vast city to look upon 
from a distance we already know. It was located 
7,875 feet above the level of the sea, and, in con- 
sequence, had a magnificent winter climate, while 
the summer climate, though generally rainy, was 
of nearly the same temperature. Then, as now, 
the thermometer must have averaged from sixty- 
five to seventy-five degrees all the year round. 



HISTORY 39 

For nine months of the year the skies were clear 
and the air sparkling. The city had, in 15 19, if 
the Spaniards stated the fact correctly, sixty thou- 
sand houses, chiefly stone-built, which would im- 
ply at the least three hundred thousand people.^ 
It was built as a square, each side about three 
miles long. There rose up in its centre, on one 
side of the chief plaza, the remarkable pyramid- 
temple, the Great Teocalli, to the height of 
'eighty-six feet, which presented a landmark for 
observers from all the surrounding valley. Hun- 
dreds of smaller temples were in all parts of the 
city. These temples, however, having neither 
golden nor copper domes or minarets, presented 
but a faint likeness to the barbaric splendors of 
Oriental cities. 

Nor did the municipality contain any twenty- 
story commercial buildings; on the contrary, the 
houses of all classes, except of the very rich, were 
uniformly one story and with flat roofs. It has 
been thought that most of the residences were 
" communal," being large enough to contain all 
the blood-relatives of a single family, and that 
only the wealthy and the nobles had separate res- 
idences, but this point is much in dispute. Oc- 
casionally a building rose to the height of two 
stories, the superstructure being of wood, but this 
was an exception. The houses had parapets on 
the roofs for purposes of safety, and to be used 
as fortresses, and sometimes there were slight tow- 
ers. The adornments of these buildings were also 
too trifling to be mentioned ; they were severely 
plain, though substantial. One must not, there- 



40 THE AZTECS 

fore, in picturing in imagination this strange old 
city, compare it with a modern Cairo or Moscow, 
much less with Chicago or New York. It was 
equally as curious as the Oriental cities now are to 
the eyes of travelers, but not resplendent. 

The Aztecs had erected their first buildings of 
the most meagre materials, but long before the 
time of Cortes had used the best and hardest 
stones to be quarried from their mountains. One 
is almost surprised to know that they freely used 
granite, porphyry, and even jasper, although the 
ordinary material was a hard, red, but light and 
porous, stone ; yet, singularly enough, as has been 
stated, these stone buildings were generally white- 
washed, and thus the city was wholesome, if less 
architecturally attractive than it might otherwise 
have appeared. 

The city, viewed from within, therefore, was 
not like any modern metropolis, American or 
European, but was much superior to any other 
city known to have existed in North America 
prior to later centuries. Canals were in almost 
every street. Communication to and fro, in the 
city and about the suburban villages, was carried 
on chiefly by means of canoes, of which there were 
said to have been two hundred thousand. The 
quays had basins and locks, and there were custom 
oflficials to collect imposts. Many of the resi- 
dences had gardens attached, full of tropical 
plants. There were smooth, wide streets, and 
many plazas. A central market-place was large 
enough to accommodate over sixty thousand sel- 
lers and purchasers at one time; there was prob- 



HISTORY 41 

ably a second one, of nearly equal size, In the cap- 
ital city, as well as a still larger one in the suburbs. 
Once a week (every fifth day) a regular fair was 
held, when the habitues of the markets were in- 
creased many fold by salespeople from a distance. 
Cortes said that, at such times, one of the markets 
was known to contain two hundred thousand peo- 
ple, but this was probably an exaggeration. 

Public fountains and ponds, and the royal baths, 
were supplied with water by an aqueduct from 
Chapultepec. There were lighthouses upon tow- 
ers, to direct the canoes at night, and the streets 
were lighted by braziers. These streets, when not 
canals, were sprinkled daily to keep down the 
dust. Certain hours of the day and night were 
announced by the priests from the summits of the 
temples by blowing through conch-shells, for time 
was regulated there, for priests and for laborers, 
as strictly as in a modern manufactory. 

It is stated that Tezcuco, about twenty miles 
northeast from Tenochtitlan, was a much larger 
and more cultured city, but that was not strictly 
Aztec, and, nevertheless, the fame of the latter 
excelled. 

The Palace of Montezuma. — We have briefly 
referred to some of the habits of the king in his 
royal abode, but the size and appointments of his 
town residence need an additional word. It was 
an exceedingly long and a low building, as is, in- 
deed, the present palace of President Diaz, which 
is partially on the same spot, but is much less 
enormous in extent than that of Montezuma. It 
was built of huge blocks of the porous red stone 



42 THE AZTECS 

heretofore described, well cemented together. It 
enclosed three large plazas, in each of which 
played a fountain day and night. There were 
twenty doors that opened on the various squares 
and streets, over each of which was the coat of 
arms of the kings of Anahuac, an eagle gripping 
in his talons a jaguar. The palace was full of im- 
mense halls, one capable of holding three thou- 
sand persons. Besides these, there were a hundred 
or more smaller rooms, and as many marble baths. 

As Montezuma was frequently visited by the 
two other kings of the confederated nations, of 
Tezcuco and Tlacopan, there were suites of apart- 
ments reserved for their use, as well as for the 
nobles and lords of the city, and the ministers of 
state. There were also rooms for the one thou- 
sand or more women who were wives of Monte- 
zuma, or attendants on his court. A writer who 
was with Cortes says that, while he often wan- 
dered about the palace until he was tired, he never 
saw the whole of it. The walls and floors were 
faced with polished marbles, and there were many 
curious carvings on balconies and porticoes. The 
woods used were cedar and cypress, and were held 
together without nails. The roofs were a suc- 
cession of terraces. On the marble floors were 
choicest mats, and before the windows ( glass was 
unknown) were curtains of brilliant colors. 
Through the halls were golden censers, in which 
were burned spices and perfumes. 

Not far away, (where the Hotel Jardin and 
the San Francisco Church now are), were large 
gardens for wild beasts, and another near it for 



HISTORY 43 

birds — a genuine zoological museum and aviary; 
also ponds of wonderful fish and alligators. Mex- 
ico had many birds of rarest plumage, among them 
the scarlet cardinal, various brilliantly colored 
parrots, the golden pheasant, and beautiful hum- 
ming-birds, and these could always be seen in the 
king's gardens. There were also groves of rare 
trees, and everywhere lovely flowers; the latter 
still grow in their perfection in the Valley of 
Mexico. It was in these gardens where Monte- 
zuma, in his latter days, spent much of his time, 
alone, or with his favorite wives. 

The building in which Cortes and his troops 
were quartered had been the palace of Axayacatl, 
the father of Montezuma. It was located just 
west of the Great Teocalli, on the spot where 
stands now the National Pawnshop of the City of 
Mexico. It consisted of a low range of stone 
buildings, occupying much ground, and af- 
fording room for all the regular Spanish troops. 

The Great Teocalli. — The chief temple of the 
Aztecs w^as the central one near the palace of 
Montezuma, occupying more ground than the 
present enormous Cathedral in the city, which is 
built directly facing the site ; it took up much of 
what is at present the main plaza. It was the 
largest, as well as the chief, sanctuary of the Az- 
tecs, but not the largest in all Mexico ; the one at 
Cholula, which still exists, being twice as high 
and proportionately larger at the base.* 



♦ The writer has been upon this pyramid and has described 
it, briefly, in his Bright Days in Sunny Lands (1904), p. 408. 



44 THE AZTECS 

The Great Teocalll was erected to the chief 
Aztec god called Hultzilopochtli, which is a name 
composed of two words, " humming-bird " and 
"left;" and his images contain a representation 
of this bird, with the feathers only on its left foot. 
A " humming-bird " was surely a curious name 
for a war-god, especially as this was the great god 
of war of the nation, although often spoken of as 
the god of Nature and of the Sun ; in any event he 
was their patron divinity. 

The legend that a humming-bird originally di- 
rected the first settlers toward Mexico may have „ 
had something to do with the singularity of this ^ 
name as applied to this protecting Deity. His 
temples were always the largest and most stately, 
and the chief sacrifices of human beings were on 
Huitzilopochtli's altars. This god had another 
name, " Mexitl," and it is from this name that ^ 
the word Mexico is derived. The latter name I 
was not uncommon to the Aztecs, and seems to ^ 
have been in such use, when the Spaniards made 
their conquest, that it was usually so called by 
them, and on the first Spanish map of the Valley 
of Mexico, made by Clavigero in 1580, the city is 
put down as " Messico."^ 

The great temple was oblong, being three hun- 
dred and seventy-five feet long and three hundred 
feet broad at the base. It was five stories high, 
each story built of huge blocks of stone superim- 
posed upon the preceding, but each ascending 
story being of smaller size (six feet narrower 
only) as it rose toward the sky. To ascend it, the 
priests in charge walked up to the first terrace, 



HISTORY 45 

and then went around this narrow walk of six 
feet to the other side and ascended to the next, 
and so to the summit, to reach which they passed 
up one hundred and fourteen steps. A wall, eight 
feet high and very thick, surrounded the temple 
to keep away the people who were not priests, and 
to protect it and the courtyard around it from in- 
trusion into its sacred precincts. This wall was 
smoothly plastered and crowned with battlements 
in the form of huge stone snails. It also had tur- 
rets. On or against the wall, on the outside, were 
hideous carved snakes, from which fact it is usu- 
ally called the " wall of snakes." Military stores 
and weapons were kept in small rooms built on 
the top of the outside wall. The courtyard be- 
tween the wall and the temple was paved with 
flat stones, so smooth that the Spaniards com- 
plained that their horses could not keep their foot- 
ing on them. 

The reason for the different terraces was in 
part architectural, but probably also for the priests 
to display themselves, when parading around it in 
their gorgeous garments, which could be seen by 
the people from the housetops, or, when the priests 
were high enough, from the near streets of the 
city. 

On the topmost terrace stood two tall towers, 
each of three stories, and fifty-six feet high; the 
first story of stone, and the upper stories of wood, 
the last being crowned with cupolas. These tow- 
ers were used as sanctuaries; the right-hand one 
being dedicated to Huitzilopochtli, and the left 
one to (it is supposed) his half-brother, (at least 



46 THE AZTECS 

so-called), Tezcatlipoca. Some have averred that 
the left-hand one was for various idols, brought 
there in turn, according to v^^hich should preside > 
over festival days, but Bernal Diaz (1498-1593), 
soldier under Cortes and, later, an historian, says 
he saw Tezcatlipoca there, seated, in the left-hand, 
sanctuary, and the best authorities hold that it was; 
for him. Each of these horrible looking gods; 
was placed upon a stone base, about four feeti 
high, and in front of them hung huge, rich cur- 
tains, with tassels, and bells of gold that rattled as> 
the hangings were moved to and fro. Before e 
these gods were small stones of sacrifice, eachi 
about three feet wide, five feet long and threec 
feet high. 

Another and larger stone of sacrifice for public: 
occasions was near the entrance to the upper ter-- 
race, as approached from the last stairway, in fuUl 
view from the city, the two towers named being { 
at the other end of the platform. This large stone : 
of sacrifice may be the one now in the National I 
Museum of Mexico, an illustration of which ap- 
pears as the frontispiece to this volume. This lat- 
ter stone is eight feet in diameter, oblong, and i 
thirty-one feet around. It was discovered near 
the Cathedral in 1791. It has elaborate carvings, 
representing victorious chiefs under the former 
king Tizoc, who ruled from 1481 to i486. This 
king is represented dragging prisoners by the hair 
to the place of sacrifice. There are fifteen groups 
of these prisoners, two in a group, and they are be- 
lieved to represent fifteen conquered tribes. The 
carving also illustrates the evening star and the 



HISTORY 47 

moon engaged in a mortal struggle. On the top, 
there is an image of the sun in the centre, but this 
has been partially cut out to make a basin, as 
some have supposed, for the head or shoulders of 
the victim, because there is a canal leading to a 
niche on the edge, as if to catch the blood and 
carry it away. Some consider this simply a *' glad- 
iatorial stone," on the top of which a gladiator, 
standing, would fight with another gladiator, and 
the defeated one would be led off to the real sac- 
rificial stone to be immolated. 

In the upper stories of the towers Diaz found 
other idols and bloodstains ; although Cortes says 
these towers were used for the ashes of the de- 
ceased cremated kings and nobles. Before each 
chapel, on a stone hearth, of a man's height, a fire 
was kept burning perpetually, and it was pro- 
phetic of grave misfortune should it become ac- 
cidentally extinguished. Here, also, stood an im- 
mense drum of snake-skins, which was beaten on 
festival occasions. 

Between the central pyramid and the outer 
walls were some seventy or more other small stone 
structures, all with many elevated stone pillars 
on them, on which were kept fires in adoration of 
the idols. There were six hundred such pillars, 
and at night their fires served " to turn night into 
day " to all who served in the temple. Many of 
these seventy stone buildings — about forty of them 
— were also little temples, each with its idol ; the 
tallest being that to the god Tlaloc, which was 
ascended by fifty steps. 

To take care of all these smaller temples, as 



48 THE AZTECS 

well as the larger in this one vast central site, 
more than five thousand persons were employed; ; 
priests, nuns, children and other persons, both men i 
and women. 

The Awful Sacrifice of Human Life. — The 
Aztecs did not slay their enemies in battle if they 
could capture them alive, but preferred — even 
went to war to secure — prisoners whom they 
could use either as slaves or as victims on their al- 
tars. All the Indians nations of North and South 
America had the same general idea that their gods 
could best be propitiated by human victims, al- 
though many of the tribes living in the present 
United States, who used the tomahawk, slew their 
enernies merely in order to secure their scalps, a 
species of warfare unknown to the people of 
Anahuac. Perhaps we must except the Maya 
tribes from having much to do with human sacri- 
fices, but this is not quite certain. The Aztecs 
also sacrificed birds, and occasionally animals, but 
there can be no exaggeration of the fact of the aw- 
ful fate of thousands of prisoners of war in the 
temples, and also of some of their own people, 
who offered themselves to be immolated, even if 
the figures are appallingly great and sometimes 
improbable. 

The skulls of those slain, put on cross-poles 
around the summit of the Great Teocalli, were 
the saddest of proofs to the Spaniards of such sac- 
rifices. There were poles set upright on the top- - 
most platform, about four feet apart, and cross-' 
poles were run through them. On each cross-pole 
were hung five skulls. At either end of the plat 



HISTORY 49 

form were also two high pillars made of skulls, 
each facing outward. When there were distin- 
guished captives, the heads were left in their nat- 
ural state, with hair and skin on, which was the 
most ghastly spectacle of all. Bernal Diaz claimed 
that two Spanish soldiers actually counted 
136,000 of these skulls when the Spaniards first 
ascended the temple, but this is supposed to have 
been an overstatement. 

The manner of the sacrifices on the Great 
Teocalli, and, doubtless, on the top platforms of 
other temples in Anahuac, has often been detailed, 
and is too sickening to bear any extended repeti- 
tion. The victim was stripped, and then extended 
upon the sacrificial stone, being firmly held by 
four priests. The executioner, who was some- 
times the chief priest, especially on great occa- 
sions, wore a red vestment, and on his head a 
crown of green and yellow feathers. He used a 
sharp stone knife (the itztli), making a deep inci- 
sion between the ribs; then, thrusting in his hand, 
tore out the living heart and deposited it in the 
censer before the idol that was being worshiped. 
The body was at once thrown down to the ground 
from the top of the temple, where either the war- 
rior who had captured the prisoner, if he were 
present and recognized his victim, or whoever first 
picked It up, had the privilege of cooking and eat- 
ing the thighs, arms and breast. The rest of the 
body was burned, or given as food for the beasts 
in the royal menagerie. 

We have already stated that, when the Great 
Teocalli was dedicated, about i486, Ahuizotl, the 



50 THE AZTECS 

king, sacrificed an enormous number of captives. 
Torquemada, the historian and priest (1545- 
161 7), who went to reside in Mexico some forty 
years after Cortes conquered it, and who gathered 
his account from native traditions and, possibly, 
records, says they numbered 72,344. Clavigero 
(173 1 -'87), the Jesuit writer, born in Mexico, 
says the number was 60,460; others put it much 
less, even down to 20,000. But, taking the 
smallest number as most probable, what a butch- 
ery of innocent victims during only four days of 
the royal rites and festivities! History furnishes 
no other example of such sanguinary religious 
ceremonies. 

It may well be that in this one thing alone, of 
their perseverance in destroying human life on 
their altars, as if it were but the life of the moth 
or of the savage beast, this nation well merited the 
retribution which befell it so soon after the 
Spaniards — who had other national and individual 
faults not to be palliated, but who were not mur- 
derers of the same dreadful mold, nor cannibals — 
had taken possession of their fair capital. 

The Aztec Religion. — It is impossible to com- 
prehend how a race of people, or any portion of 
that race, who were in some respects so esthetic in 
their tastes; who were versed, even rudely, in 
many important sciences; who had written docu- 
ments ; who maintained a high moral code in fam- 
ily life, and who had so many excellent laws to 
govern them, could be so exceedingly barbarous in 
their religious observances, unless we know a great 
deal more about their religious beliefs than we 



HISTORY 51 

now do. Unfortunately, while we know much of 
their gods, we understand less of the Aztec inner 
religious life than we should like. This is because 
their own chroniclers, and those of the conquer- 
ors who held these '* pagans " in such disdain that 
they never tolerated their religion after the con- 
quest, took no pains to write about it with minute- 
ness. All accounts on the subject are unsatisfac- 
tory and mystifying. Still, we can gather from 
the annals of that period, and the known facts, 
considerable information upon their mythology, 
from which such curious religious observances 
sprang; and it throws much light upon the blood- 
iness of their rites. 

The chief gods were believed to delight in the 
horrors of the sacrifice, and it is easy to conjec- 
ture that, as this mythology was self-originated, 
the immediate ancestors of the Aztecs of Mexico 
must, perforce, have been cruel and bloodthirsty 
men. We hardly believe that this nation was de- 
generating, although it may have been increasing 
in barbarity in this one respect, owing to the in- 
satiable cruelty of their kings. 

In the early ages of the world bloodthirstiness 
appears to have been the rule, even after signs of 
civilization were well under way, and races which, 
from their general intellectual standing, should 
have been peace-loving and uncruel, were rarely 
an exception. It is so to-day in the heart of Afri- 
ca ; it was so in the past centuries in the heart of 
Asia. Is it any wonder that it was so in the heart 
of America? 

The mythology — which term means a mythical 



52 THE AZTECS 

theology; doctrines of gods who were really but 
myths — of the Aztecs was in many respects like ; 
that of other early nations of the East. Thisv] 
is one of the reasons for supposing their ancestors 
were originally from Asia. Still, the likenesses . 
between the religions of the peoples of Asia and 1 
of the Aztecs were not greater than were their 
dissimilarities. 

Like most untutored peoples, they had always 
believed in good and evil spirits, and, therefore, 
their gods were both good and bad, but, unfor- 
tunately, their chief gods were what we should 
call bad. They had minor gods of a different 
character, as of the seasons, of the harvest-time, 
of warriors, hunting, fishing, medicine, mountains, 
thunder, etc., who were scarcely good or bad ; but 
of their five chief gods at least three were certainly 
far from good in what they rigorously demanded 
of their worshipers. 

The Aztecs did rise up to some conception of a 
Supreme God, who was chief Lord of the uni- 
verse, and supreme even above the god who made 
the earth and the heavens. Their literature proves 
this. There are beautiful appeals to God ( to 
Teotl, the Supreme God) as the great Lord 
over all. He was also called Tloque-Nahuaque, 
meaning " First Cause of all Things." Also 
Italnemoaloni, " He in Whom and by Whom we 
are and live." In an Aztec prayer He was spoken 
of as " God of all purity." But a conception of 
Him, or of any inferior god, as a loving, all-mer- 
ciful Father, who might love His earthly children 
" with surpassing love," more ready to be merciful 



i 



HISTORY 53 

and helpful than arbitrarily adhering to fixed laws 
of " justice," they did not possess, nor have any 
peoples comprehended it, save as they received it 
from the Christian religion. On Teotl they did 
not build up much mythology, much less the- 
ology; they did not endow him with the finer 
moral attributes which enter into our conceptions 
of the Deity. Nor did they make any images of 
him, perhaps because they looked upon him simply 
as a spirit; perhaps because they considered him 
too exalted to receive human adoration after their 
usual forms. 

It is interesting in this connection to note that 
the wisest and best of all the kings of the nations 
in the Valley of Mexico, Nezahualcoyotl, the 
Tezcucan, living near and exceedingly friendly 
with the Aztecs, and also believing in the Aztec 
gods, erected one great temple,wherein he refused 
to have human sacrifices made, and dedicated it 
to " The Unknown God, the Cause of Causes." 
Yet, even with this vague and indefinite idea of 
one Deity being more than any other, they could 
not, take in the view of God as being sole god. 
If He were the head of the universe, He was yet 
not the only god. 

As to the minor gods, they either deified men 
after death as gods (and some believed their chief 
gods were, once, men who really lived, and who, 
in process of time, were given a place in their 
mythology), or they made them out-and-out from 
their fears, superstitions, dreams and hopes, and 
to these inferior gods, and not to Teotl, they 
prayed, built their temples and sacrificed. 



5^ 

54 THE AZTECS 

It would be profitless to name the more than 
two hundred gods that have place in Aztec myth- 
ology. Perhaps thirteen of these only were con 
sidered as principal deities. As every principa 
god had various names, we cannot be certain 
how many there were. Below we shall name 
the four which, in addition to the Supreme God 
(Teotl) already named, appear to have most in- 
fluenced their religious ceremonies. 

First, and chief, after Teotl, was Tezcatlipoca 
(" shining mirror "). He was supposed to be the 
god who created the heavens and the earth and 
also man. His images always represented him 
holding a mirror in his hands. As time had no 
effect upon him, he had the face of a young man. 
Tezcatlipoca rewarded the just, but punished the 
unjust by disease. He also went about among 
men inducing them to destroy one another. There 
were placed stone seats for him at the corners of 
the streets, where he might rest, and no one was 
allowed to sit on those seats. Although his face 
always had a young appearance, the images of him 
were ugly. Above his head was, usually, a larger 
head, with immense round eyes and big ears, and 
the general whole was grotesque and disagreeable. 
Tezcatlipoca was not generally supposed to be 
as bloody a deity as the god to be named next, but 
many sacrifices were made to him, and the an- 
nual festival to him was celebrated with a sacri- 
fice of girls. 

Second, Huitzilopochtli, or Mexitl.9 He was 
the most honored of all the Aztec divinities. He 
has been mentioned before. It was chiefly for hirn 



HISTORY 55 

that the Aztecs erected their first small hut-temple 
when they founded Tenochtitlan. It was for him 
that so mighty a Teocalli was built in the city 
afterward. He was not simply a god of war, but 
a terrible god of war. He was said to have been 
born of a woman without a human father, and 
that when born he had a shield in his left hand, 
a lance in his right hand, a green plume on his 
head, and feathers on his left leg. His figure on 
top of the Great Teocalli, in the tower-sanctuary, 
was of wood, painted blue, the forehead of an 
azure tint, and the face crossed from ear to ear by 
a band of azure. A helmet, like a bird, was on 
his head, and a collar representing six human 
hearts was around his neck. He had also the scep- 
tre, feathers, etc., to indicate his general appear- 
ance at birth. He was always one of the most 
hideous of the gods, to whom most victims were 
sacrificed, and in case of war some image of him 
was carried by the priests through the city to 
arouse the people to go forth to battle. 

Third, Tlaloc, "master of Paradise." He 
lived on the mountain summit, where people went 
to pray to him. He was a Toltec god, but the 
Aztecs believed in him as governor of their fu- 
ture place of abode, (the Sun), for they were 
lookers-for\vard to an immortality beyond the 
grave. Images of him were also horrible. Chil- 
dren were sacrificed to this god, and the year was 
full of festivals to him when other human sacri- 
fices were offered. 

Fourth, Quetzalcoatl, also a Toltec god, whose 
personal life as a divinity was quite blameless. He 



56 THE AZTECS 

was " god of the air." Some thought he was a 
real priest at Tula before the Aztecs arrived, but 
that he left for Cholula and was deified after 
death. As there were two of that name, a king, 
and a divinity, they have probably become mixed 
up in the records. . It is interesting to observe that 
the first Spanish missionaries saw in QuetzalcoatI 
" a disciple of Jesus Christ," because he " taught 
charity, gentleness and peace." They believed- 
from this that the Gospel must have been previ- 
ously preached in Anahuac, not only because theyy 
saw this supposed man-god was so good, but also: 
because they fancied they saw resemblances in cer- 
tain of his customs to those of their own religion. i, 
He was always described as once a man; a talll 
man, with a white skin, broad forehead, large eyes^ 
and bushy beard, who invented the art of smelting: 
metals and working in stone. At Cholula he had 1 
won the hearts of the people and had resided there 
twenty years; then went toward the sea, never: 
to return, but sent word back that he would re-- 
turn at some time in the far future at the head of 
white-faced men and govern the kingdom. The 
natives of Cholula, whether Toltecs or what, 
promptly deified him, and ever afterward they, 
and the Aztecs also, venerated him as the " god 
of the air." His fame spread into Yucatan, and 
later kings there declared they were descended 
from him. All Mexico believed in him and in his 
promise to return; and this is what made the 
Aztecs specially fearful that Cortes and his sol- • 
diers might be QuetzalcoatI and his band return- 
ing to claim possession of the land, which, in his 



HISTORY 57 

absence, had been glad to tender him their wor- 
ship. 

Quetzalcoatl was at first only worshiped by 
offerings of fruits and flowers ; his teachings were 
wholly of the arts and of the precepts of peace. 
But in the later years of the empire, when the 
Aztecs had set such constant examples of the sacri- 
fice of human beings to their own peculiar gods, 
the Cholulans sacrificed also hundreds, if not 
thousands, of victims to this gentle and peace-lov- 
ing god. 

There were, in addition to gods, goddesses of 
the earth and of maize, of flowers and of aged 
women, etc. In truth, there were gods and god- 
desses to fit every condition in life, and to ac- 
count for every past or present event in the heav- 
ens or the earth. These minor gods were not all 
bloody creatures, it is true, but as their chief divin- 
ities were, is it scarcely a wonder that, so long as 
they believed in them, human sacrifices to pro- 
pitiate these gods were continued, or that the na- 
tion should be led to believe by the priests and 
kings that the larger the sacrifices, the greater 
would be the mercies to come down upon the 
whole people? 

The idols of these gods were made of stone, 
terra cotta and wood, though often of gold and 
silver. They were of all sizes, and not in agree- 
ment in the same class, even as to grotesque de- 
tails. These idols were as numerous as are idols 
now in India or China, being in the houses of 
the people and along the roads and streets. The 
first bishop of Mexico, Zumarraga (1486-1548), 



58 THE AZTECS 

says that one order of Spanish monks alone de- 
stroyed twenty thousand idols in eight years time. 

Temples where occurred Aztec sacrifices, such 
as have been named, were not alone in Tenoch- 
titlan, but elsewhere. Torquemada, the Spanish 
historian, who resided in Mexico and wrote a His- 
tory of the Indian Monarchies, declared that there 
were fifty thousand temples in Anahuac. Other 
historians of near his day declared there were a 
million of priests, which must have been an ex- 
aggeration. 

The temple service consisted of hymn-chanting 
and incense-burning at dawn, noon, sunset and 
midnight. The sun was incensed thrice every 
morning. Each morning also these priests painted 
their bodies black with soot, and over this black 
covering put figures in yellow or red ochre; but, 
at night, they bathed in temple fountains and were 
made clean again. For ordinary use on the streets 
they wore black cotton caps, but during the cere- 
monies put on colored mantles, according to the 
orders to which they belonged. Their hair was 
allowed to grow as long as it would. They never 
drank to excess, and severe were the laws for dis- 
obeying customs, or for immorality. The great 
door of the temples always faced to the west, so 
that in bending down before the idol at the east 
end, the worshiper was turned toward the east — 
toward the rising sun. 

To keep up their worship in its grander forms 
almost continually, there were festivals to one 
god or another nearly every day in the year. 
Many of these were, of course, not accompanied 



HISTORY 59 

by the shedding of blood, although animals and 
birds were frequently sacrificed ; quails, especially, 
were offered in enormous numbers, usually at the 
sunrising, but also at other hours. They were 
often light and cheerful festivals, accompanied 
with dances of men, of women and of children, 
and with national songs. The Toltecs, who had 
preceded the Aztecs, had inaugurated such peace- 
ful festivities, that nation being averse to blood- 
shed. 

The chief priestly ceremonies were gorgeous, 
so as to dazzle the people with the splendors of the 
worship. Each priest was devoted to the service 
of some god. He was allowed to marry, practiced 
penances (fastings, flagellations, etc.), maintained 
confessionals and had the power of absolution. 
Men usually confessed but once during their lives, 
in their old age, because, if they repeated an of- 
fence once confessed and pardoned by the priest, 
it could never afterward be expiated. When the 
priest absolved the confesser, the certificate of ft 
also shielded him from prosecution by the civil 
law. 

Future life was believed in, and was divided 
into three states: (i) Of the wicked, who went 
to hell; a place of everlasting darkness. (2) Of 
the class who died of diseases and were not 
wicked, but had not earned heaven by either their 
heroism or death on the sacrificial altar. (3) Of 
those who fell in war, or were slain on the stone 
of sacrifice. Those who did not belong to one of 
these three classes, who were simply " deceased 
good men," were supposed to be four years in a 



6o \HE AZTECS 

preparatory state before entering upon the enjoy- 
ment of heaven, and for these, during each of the 
four years, offerings of food, wine, flowers and 
perfume were placed on or near the burial-place 
of his body, or his ashes, accompanied with songs, 
feasting and revelry. Paradise was thus clearly 
reserved, in the first place, for heroes and martyrs ; 
then for good men, but only after further proba- 
tion. With such beliefs as to how immortality 
in the Sun could be earned, the enigma of their 
constant warfare with other tribes, even when 
peace could easily have been concluded, was no 
longer such. War was always glorious, and death 
in war had this allurement ahead. 

Marriage and Funeral Rites.— Marriages 
were usually performed at the age of about 
twenty-one in men and eighteen in women. When 
sons and daughters arrived at that age the parents 
consulted soothsayers as to the desirability of the 
match proposed for their children, and, if the 
augury was for a happy union, some old lady rela- 
tives of the young man sought out the father of 
the proposed bride, taking presents and asking for 
the daughter's hand. He always refused It at 
first, but subsequently, other deputations being 
sent, if he acceded, a date was soon fixed. On 
the date the father and mother of the bride gave 
her good advice, and then led her, with some ac- 
companying music, to the bridegroom's house. 
The bridegroom and his relatives met the party at 
the door with lighted torches. The betrothed 
offered incense to each other, when the couple 
were led to the great hall in the house, and the 



HISTORY 6i 

marriage took place. The two seated themselves 
on a mat before a fire built for the occasion in 
the centre of the room; the priest made a long 
address on the duties of the pair to each other, 
and then tied the skirt of the girl's mantle to the 
mantle of the young man, and this constituted the 
principal marriage service. To complete the tie, 
however, the bride walked seven times around the 
fire; after which she and her husband burned 
incense to the gods and exchanged presents. A 
banquet and dance followed. The couple had to 
remain in the house for four days, ** in fasting and 
prayer," when they were permitted to show 
themselves as man and wife. 

When an Aztec died a sort of undertaker, or 
master-of-ceremonies, was sent for. He cut up a 
number of pieces of papyrus, and covered the body 
with them ; then poured out water on the head of 
the deceased. The body was then dressed ac- 
cording to the occupation or condition of the de- 
ceased ; if a soldier, like the idol of Huitzilo- 
pochtli; if a merchant, like the idol of the mer- 
chants, etc. A vessel of water was placed by the 
dead to slake his thirst on his journey to his future 
abode, and papyrus bits given him as passports on 
the way.^° Sometimes his domestic animal, 
(techichi), much like a dog, but now extinct, was 
killed to accompany him on his journey, and both 
man and beast were burned, or buried,. at the same 
time, together. 

Cremation was common, the general exceptions 
to it being where the deceased had met a violent 
death, or had died of an incurable disease, or was 



62 THE AZTECS 

under seventeen years of age, In which cases they 
were buried. The altar for the burning was 
usually attached to the temple, where the dead 
person or his family had attended worship. When 
the body was being burned, the mourners threw 
on the flames jewels, weapons and food. In the 
case of kings, sometimes an embalming was at- 
tempted, but probably this was only that the body 
might last through the extended ceremonies. On 
the day of his decease, the general ceremonies were 
not unlike those for a private person, but on a 
funeral day they were gorgeous in all respects. 
The body was laid on a litter, or placed on a 
throne, and borne to the temple amid a procession 
of priests, nobles and people, as well as the slaves 
to be immolated. At the funeral of some of the 
kings, several hundred slaves belonging to the 
royal household were slain on the sacrificial stone 
in the usual manner and the bodies cremated. 
These slaves were supposed to follow the soul of 
their royal master to the Sun and there attend 
upon him. 

The Aztec Calendar. — The Aztecs had a pre- 
pared calendar and various copies of it, in stone 
or picture-writing, are in existence. Their year 
was of three hundred and sixty-five days, like our 
own, but was composed of eighteen months, of 
twenty days each, and the month was subdivided 
into four weeks of five days each. To the last 
month, five days were added to make up the full 
number. These were called " useless " days and 
were given up to festivities. The name of each 
month and each day had a meaning ; for example, 



HISTORY 63 

the first month, beginning with the day corre- 
sponding with our February 2," called **Atla- 
cahualco," signifies "want of water;" the fifth 
month, ** Toxcatl," " dry or slippery," (as if they 
were uncertain whether it would rain or be dry) ; 
the sixteenth month, ''Atenoztli," " fall of the 
waters," etc. The names of the days were ob- 
jects, as fish, house, lizard, tiger, flower, etc. 

Every fifty-two years made a cycle, and, at the 
end of the cycle there was a curious celebration, 
upon the hj^pothesis that it might be the world 
would then be destroyed. On the afternoon of 
the last day of the cycle, the temple and house- 
hold fires were suffered to go out, and furniture, 
utensils and garments were destroyed. Then a 
procession of priests went to the mountains. Men 
in the city watched the procession from their 
housetops, while the women remained indoors, 
with covered heads, under the fear that, if they 
witnessed the procession, they would, when the 
final hour arrived, be turned into beasts. At mid- 
night of that day the Pleiades was due at the 
zenith, and, if it reached there, it was the signal 
that a new day would come and a new cycle begin. 
At the supreme moment a new fire was kindled 
by the friction of sticks on the exposed breast of 
a noble, who was then put on a funeral pyre, and 
the fire communicated to it. Torches were lighted 
from the pyre and were rapidly carried by cou- 
riers over the country, to the temples and homes 
of the people. 

We have omitted to state that at the end of the 
cycle twelve and one-half days were added to it, 



64 THE AZTECS 

a proof that the Aztecs were amazingly correct 
as to their calendar, this addition making it more 
exact than the calendar of any civilized nation 
of Europe until the Gregorian calendar came into 
existence in 1582, long after the Aztec custom 
had come into use. As it was, the Aztec calendar 
would not lose a day in five centuries; by the 
Gregorian calendar there is a loss of one day only 
every 3,323 years. 

The last twelve or thirteen days of the Aztec 
cycle were given up to festivities, the evening of 
the last day being spent as above recited. The 
last celebration of the Festival of the Cycle was 
in 1506; when the next cycle occurred, the Aztec 
nation no longer existed. In their system of ages, 
the Aztecs supposed a series of cycles, embracing 
several thousand years, when not only the world 
and mankind, but the sun itself, was destroyed, 
and a new series of cycles would begin by a re- 
kindling of the sun by the Supreme God, and new 
creations of the world and man by Tezcatlipoca. 

Many have supposed that one of the most won- 
derful objects in existence connected with the 
Aztec knowledge of the movements of the sun, 
moon and stars, and of cycles, etc., is the " Calen- 
dar Stone," discovered in 1790, under where the 
Great Teocalli stood, and which is now in the 
Mexican National Museum. It is nearly three 
feet in thickness and twelve and one-half feet in 
diameter, and weighs almost sixty thousand 
pounds. It is said to have been quarried and 
carved in 15 12, having been brought from Coyoa- 
can, and, when being taken across the causeway 



HISTORY 65 

on wooden rollers, broke down upon the draw- 
bridge, and was recovered, or, as other writers 
declare, a new one was obtained and successfully 
brought to the temple by the combined efforts of 
five thousand men. It is generally understood, 
however, that this stone, or the original after 
which it was patterned, was Toltec rather than 
Aztec, the Toltecs having possessed astronomical 
knowledge long years before the Aztecs reached 
Mexico. This stone, or its original, may have 
been in Tula, and may have been removed from 
there by the Aztecs, but the theory of such a 
long journey for it is rather untenable. 

As to what is actually represented upon this 
Calendar Stone, there is no agreement among 
scholars. The illustrations given of it in the 
different books, or, indeed, the original itself, 
which the writer has seen, can certainly not be 
interpreted by everybody, even if of more than 
average intelligence. That it is an harmonious de- 
sign, beginning in the centre with the sun, as it 
was usually painted by the Aztecs, and with other 
figures representing days and months, cycles and 
epochs, and various understood and not under- 
stood solar events, there is scarcely room for 
doubt. The Mexican archaeologist, Gama (1735- 
1820), insisted that it was only a sun-dial — and 
sun-dials were well-known and commonly used; 
but the better opinion seems to be that, whether 
used for that purpose or not, it relates to various 
periods of time, of the solstices and equinoxes, and 
of the transit of the sun over the zenith of Mex- 
ico. At all events the Aztecs were more versed 



66 THE AZTECS 

than we should naturally suppose In the science 
of astronomy, and some of their names for the 
heavenly bodies were extremely expressive, as, for 
a comet, " Citlalinpopoca," which means " the 
smoking star." 

The Aztecs calculated all the years of their 
Mexican history from logi A. D., whei^ they first 
instituted or " reformed " their calendar. From 
that date they began to note "Tn their annals the 
eclipses, and evidently knew what caused them; 
and they had from that period ideas about astro- 
nomical science, the correctness of which, whether 
original or derived from the Toltecs, has as- 
tounded all writers who have tried to unravel 
Aztec attainments. 

Laws and Courts. — ^AU barbarous nations have 
some established laws, or rules, usually such 
as custom and their kings have decreed. But in 
Anahuac the legal system was complete, and based 
on a large amount of practical wisdom. There 
was one " supreme judge," from whom no de- 
cision in criminal matters could be appealed. He 
was the supreme court on public and private of- 
fences. Below him sat a court of three judges, 
who held daily sessions, if required, and heard 
both civil and criminal causes. From them no 
civil cause could be appealed ; criminal ones could 
go, as above stated, to the " supreme judge " for 
final hearing. In each quarter of the city there 
were small court judges, equivalent. In many re- 
spects, to our justices of the peace, called ** lieu- 
tenants of tribunals," who first judged the causes 
arising in their several districts. Below them were 



HISTORY 67 

" commissioners," who preserved order, if they 
could, without legal measures; if they could not, 
they would direct policemen to make arrests and 
carry offenders to a " lieutenant of tribunals." 
The " supreme judge " appointed the three judges 
of the court below him, but each " lieutenant of 
tribunals " and " commissioner " was elected by 
his fellow-citizens. In very grave matters the 
" supreme judge " made no decree till he had 
advised with the king. This whole system seems 
to have been as well devised as if it were a plan 
of the Twentieth instead of the Fourteenth, or 
possibly of the Fifteenth, Century. 

There were no lawyers, but the accuser could 
make no charge unsupported by witnesses, and the 
accused could defend himself under oath upon his 
gods. If land property was in dispute, resort was 
had to the official records, which were carefully 
preserved. 

At first, Aztec laws were made by the priests; 
afterward by the nobility. Itzcoatl was the first 
sovereign to make some laws for himself, and suc- 
ceeding sovereigns did likewise, but the old laws 
were also allowed to stand and were rarely ap- 
pealed. Despotism naturally followed the sov- 
ereign's interposition in becoming both legisla- 
tor and executive, and Anahuac was in this con- 
dition of despotism when Montezuma ended his 
days, and the empire was brought to an inglorious 
end. 

Food and Medicine. — In their earlier years in 
Mexico, the Aztecs were compelled to live on the 
poorest imaginable food. Surrounded by hostile 



68 THE AZTECS 

peoples, growing rapidly in numbers, residing on 
small islands in a lake, they could plant and gather 
little maize or other grain — what they did plant 
other tribes might harvest — and cultivate but few 
fruits. They were, therefore, often obliged to eat 
flies, ants, grasshoppers, snakes and roots of plants. 
There was a very prolific species of fly, called the 
** vegetable fly," which they caught, and a dough 
made of them, seasoned with saltpetre, and 
cooked, made food even down to Spanish times; 
the Spaniards said it was not unpalatable. Wheth- 
er from this kind of food or not, in the early days 
of the nation pestilence was not uncommon. Dis- 
eases broke out now and then that swept away 
thousands. But afterwards the race grew stronger, 
plagues were less prevalent, and centenarians were 
frequently spoken of as not anomalies. The Na- 
huas, as a rule, were a vigorous, healthy, long- 
lived people, and so, to-day, are many of their de- 
scendants. 

Maize was the most stable product of the field, 
and grown wherever the soil would grow it. 
This is our Indian corn, and it still flourishes in 
various parts of Mexico. The people made cakes 
of it, called by the Mexicans of to-day tortillas, 
and similar cakes are still sold in all Mexican 
cities. Sometimes the maize was eaten in the 
form of a porridge.* After maize, cacao (or co- 
coa), was in brief demand, of course mainly as a 
drink. The cacao-bean, as it is called, being a 
seed from the cocoa tree, was ground up with 
certain other seeds and boiled; the liquid was 
shaken up till frothy, then mixed with a little 



HISTORY 69 

dough made of maize, after which it was cooked 
again. It is said the same method of preparing 
chocolate was adopted in Spain from Mexico, and 
afterward in France, and that the best chocolate 
is now prepared in the same way, though where 
the Aztecs used certain flowers to give it a peculiar 
aroma, the Europeans used vanilla. 

Black beans were much used for food. Fruits 
and vegetables were abundant, as they are yet 
in that land; for example, the mammee, banana, 
ahuacatl (vegetable water), tapioca, fig, sweet po- 
tato, etc. There were no cattle or goats, and 
so the Aztecs had neither milk nor butter. But 
they had turkeys and ate eggs of turkeys and 
turtles. They used salt, pepper and allspice with 
which to season. They had as a drink palm-tree 
wine, but pulque was the favorite beverage, as 
it is to-day among all the Mexican peasants. 

When sick, the people used first, their own home 
vegetable cures; if the patient grew worse, phy- 
sicians were employed. The people themselves 
knew, the use of sarsaparilla, gum-copal, resin, 
and jalap ; in fact jalap, which is made of a dried 
root, came from Mexico, and Jalapa was named 
after it, because it is there where it is believed to 
have originated. They used vegetables for emet- 
ics, purgatives and blood-purifiers; prepared plas- 
ters, ointments and oils; practiced bleeding, and 
knew well how to cure wounds and sores. The 
arts of the physicians, or medicine-men, were ac- 
companied with invocations, incantations and sor- 
ceries, but still they were frequently not unskilled, 
and often healed, although their patients usually 



70 THE AZTECS 

gave the gods that were implored the credit rather 
than the physicians. 

Skill in the Arts. — Ordinary skill in rudi- 
mentary arts, or even a stage or two above the 
rudimentary, scarcely marks the difference be- 
tween a barbarous and a civilized race, for some 
savages are experts in making weapons, weaving 
garments and working in stone. But the Aztecs 
were immeasurably in advance of any savage race 
in these and other matters requiring a high degree 
of skill and taste. Having neither iron nor steel 
tools, they early used flint, but soon found ob- 
sidian — a mineral of volcanic origin, common 
enough in Mexico — and with it made knives, ra- 
zors, and even mirrors. It is of various colors 
and extremely hard. 

In process of time they used copper and 
bronze, and as they knew of the beauty and 
uses of gold, silver and precious stones, they 
had many jewelers, who made the metals into 
ornaments, and polished the precious stones, 
and this they did to a wonderful degree of 
perfection. Some emeralds, amethysts, carne- 
lians, and other such stones, cut and carved 
by Aztec jewelers, were sent to Spain by Cortes, 
and became famous. Their work in gold and sil- 
ver, however, was equally beautiful. Cortes 
wrote home that Montezuma had in his collec- 
tion of curios a counterfeit in gold, silver, stone, 
or feathers, of every natural object in his do- 
minion, whether bird, beast or fish; and the 
presents made by him to Cortes are known to have 
embraced objects which made the Spanish soldiery 



HISTORY 71 

wonder, admire and enw. There were among 
them goblets, pictures, rings, bracelets, earrings, 
helmets, charms, and similar things, most precious 
in quality and exquisite in manufacture. Unfor- 
tunately, almost all such objects of value obtained 
by the Spaniards were melted down in order that 
they might make less bulk for shipment to Spain, 
and very few of them in their original designs still 
exist. 

To illustrate the richness of some of these ob- 
jects of art we note that the treasures which 
Montezuma gave to Cortes, counted up in 
pesos de oro,^^ and making allowance for the 
change in value of gold since the beginning of the 
Sixteenth Century, amounted to about six million 
three hundred thousand dollars. 

Household utensils were made of clay, and the 
potters were peculiarly skillful in turning out 
those products. Weavers were numerous, using 
cotton, flax, hemp, and even feathers, in their 
weaving. They frequently spun with terra cotta 
spindles. They made cotton cloth of fine grade, 
and dyed it in various colors. Mantles and 
blankets were made of a mixture of cotton and 
feathers, so that it was almost as soft as wool. 
They dressed in skins of animals and birds; 
wove baskets and mats; plaited ropes; made 
boxes with lids and hinges ; also tables and chairs. 
They had fans of feathers; also paper of the 
maguey plant, on which to pencil or paint their 
hieroglyphic records. In the art of dyeing colors 
they excelled the Europeans, especially in reds and 
purples. They made rude maps of their country, 



72 THE AZTECS 

and also many drawings and printed pictures, of 
animals, birds, trees, and of their kings. They 
made feather-pictures, however, which excelled 
any, perhaps, which have ever been made, and 
their descendants are, to-day, able to produce 
them in a manner to astonish the traveler, who 
sees them in Mexico for the first time. 

Literature of the Empire. — We have seen that 
when Montezuma II. was crowned, it was the 
occasion for a speech of genuine oratorical 
merit. Did these early Mexican races, then, pos- 
sess orators, poets and authors? They certainly 
did. Speechmaking, on proper official occasions, 
was always an Indian accomplishment. Some of 
the most eloquent addresses in the English 
language are those translated from the Indian 
languages of North America. The Aztecs were 
no exception to the general rule. They were not 
a loquacious people; on the contrary, were nat- 
urally sedate and quiet, especially before 
strangers. They rarely talked when there was 
nothing to say. But when the educated among 
them did speak, especially in public, their words 
read like, and often were, studied orations. Even 
their prayers v/ere orations and often marvels of 
elaborate elocutionary effort. On festal occa- 
sions, at marriages, and in carrying on intercourse 
with their own officials, or in making diplomatic 
treaties with other nations, many and long ad- 
dresses were made. Parents orated before their 
children in giving them advice or admonition. 
The children were also taught from early years 
to declaim the speeches of their most famous 



HISTORY 73 

ancestors. The compositions of poets were fre- 
quently recited in public and sometimes sung, the 
themes being of war, national annals, nature, and 
not infrequently of love. 

Probably most of their literary productions they 
never committed to writing, but many they did 
write out, and a few survive. Unhappily, the 
Spaniards did not value records and manuscripts 
that they could not read, and the great bulk of 
Aztec composition was allowed to perish by 
neglect, by fire, and by the demolition of their 
temples and cities. Soon after Zumarraga, first 
bishop of Mexico, arrived in that country, by his 
orders a " mountain heap of them," to use his own 
language, were gathered up and destroyed ; rec- 
ords and writings that would now be invaluable, 
as containing the thoughts of religious writers of 
Anahuac and the annals of the empire. We know 
of five cities yielding 16,000 to the Spanish gover- 
nors, who destroyed every leaf! 

The country did not possess first-class artists, 
though they drew animals to perfection. Their 
drawings of human faces and landscapes were 
usually crude, and frequently grotesque, which, 
however, in the case of persons, may have been 
Intentional. 

The official records were exactly kept and full 
of detail, so much so that nothing of Importance 
seemed to escape their attention In noting ac- 
counts. They made and kept tables of their kings 
and nobles, tax rolls, land titles, law codes, court 
records, calendars of days and feasts, and pos- 
sessed full national annals, actual as well as tra- 



74 THE AZTECS 

ditlonal, in their original hieroglyphic system. 
Their national records were kept by the priests 
in the temple archives. The common people may 
not have been able to read, but all the educated 
could read. Their picture-writings were 
sketched, or painted, in bright colors, rapidly, by 
educated scribes and artists, on strips of cotton 
cloth, or skins, but generally on paper, the best 
of which was made of the leaves of the maguey, 
which made a paper softer than parchment. When 
a document was completed it was rolled, or folded 
up. The sheets of the picture-waiting were from 
twelve to fifteen inches wide, and often sixty or 
seventy feet long. They were not rolled, but 
folded in squares, the last two pages being ex- 
posed to view. After thin wooden boards had 
been fastened to the edge of the outer page, they 
made a handsome appearance and would have 
graced a modern library. The bound books 
looked much like our quartos. 

It is this written language, original and suf- 
ficiently perfect to declare whatever one wishes to 
say, which is one of the surest signs that the Az- 
tecs had a higher degree of intellectual cultivation 
than any other of the nations in North or South 
America, except, perhaps, in Peru, of whose lit- 
erary skill, however, we have less knowledge than 
we have of the Aztecs. 

Some picture-writings all nations have had. 
The lowest form is mere representation of 
natural objects. Then come symbols: for ex- 
ample, several footprints, meaning a journey ; an 
eye, meaning light; a black square, meaning 



HISTORY 75 

night, etc. But these are crude, and would 
scarcely be Interpreted in any detail by a stranger 
to the particular tribe or people using them. 
The various early settlers of Asia and of the Pa- 
cific slope in America carved many such pic- 
tures and symbols on rocks and on bark, the 
former still existing but now untranslatable. Of 
a higher order come phonetic pictures, or symbols, 
these having some relation to sound, so as to make 
them capable of being read aloud. This should 
lead, ultimately, to a phonetic alphabet, which is 
the acme of achievement in the formation of any 
written language. The Aztecs did not attain that 
final, end ; the Nahua language had no real pho- 
netic alphabet, or it would have been fully equal, 
in capability of written expression, to any mod- 
ern language. 

As to notation, they indicated small numbers up 
to 10 by dots; lo by a lozenge; and all large 
numbers by twenties (the number of days in 
their month) ; they also had signs for squares 
and cubes of twenty. For example, 20 was repre- 
sented by a flag; the square of 20 (400) by a 
feather; 20 times 400 (8000) by a purse. For 
convenience, these signs were halved. Thus, to 
write 534, would require one feather (400) ; one- 
quarter of a feather, (100) ; one flag, (20) ; one- 
half of a flag, (10), and four dots. This illus- 
trates the principle and is ingenious and accurate, 
although we might consider it clumsy. They 
had no difficulty, under their scheme, to indicate 
either small amounts or millions. 

The Nahua language, as spoken, Is said to have 



^6 THE AZTECS 

been " sweet and harmonious to the ears," hav- 
ing no sharp or nasal sounds. It is also described 
as "rich, exact and expressive." Bancroft (Hu- 
bert H.), after a careful study of the subject, 
says: ** Of all the languages spoken on the Amer- 
ican continent, the Aztec is the most perfect in 
finish, approaching in this respect the tongues of 
Europe and Asia, and actually surpassing many 
of them by its elegance of expression." It lacked 
the consonants b, dj f, r, g, and s, but the omission 
of these improved the musical tone of the words 
employed. It may interest some to note what 
were the letters of the language, employing, for 
this, of course, such English letters as exactly cor- 
respond with the sound : a, g, ch, e, h, i, k, I, m, n, 
0, P, q, tj tl, tZj u, V, X, y, z. The words, com- 
pounded in all sorts of ways, were certainly more 
expressive than any other American tongue; and 
as to exactness, Hernandez, a Spanish naturalist 
(i5i4-'78), who traveled in Mexico fifty years 
after the Conquest, described twelve hundred 
plants, two hundred birds, and many animals, in- 
sects, etc., and had no difficulty in finding for 
each a special Aztec name. The longest word we 
have come across is one of sixteen syllables, given 
by Hernandez in stating the native name of one 
of the plants : 

mihuiittilnioyoiccuitlatonpicixochitl 
To give a further illustration of the Aztec 
language, as rendered by English spelling, we 
give herewith the Lord's Prayer in that language : 
" Totatzine ynilhuicac timoyeztica, mayectene- 
hualo inmotocatzin, mahualauh inmotlatocayotzin 



HISTORY 77 

machihualo intlalticpac inmotlanequilltzin, inyuh- 
chichlhualo inilhuicac;" which would exactly 
read, translating word by word — " Our revered 
Father, — who heaven in — art, — be praised — thy 
name, — may come — thy kingdom — be done — 
earth above — thy will — as is done — heaven in." 

Manners and Customs. — The Aztecs often 
painted their faces with red, yellow or black 
paint, and also their feet; sometimes, too, the 
hands, neck and breasts. They loaded themselves 
with ornaments, including their arms, ankles, fin- 
gers, and sometimes noses and ears. 

They frequently fasted, their religious laws 
making this necessary. Some of these fasts, how- 
ever, were voluntary, in order to do penance. 

Only sons inherited property, usually the first- 
born, but if he was considered unable to take good 
care of it, the father could choose another son, 
who was then under obligation to supply the 
wants of the eldest. The lands of the nation, 
in a sense held in common, were divided up in a 
certain specified way, the king taking a portion, 
which on the maps was marked in purple; the 
nobles a portion, marked in red; and the com- 
mon people a portion, marked in yellow. The 
priests, also, had portions to be used for their 
maintenance. The maps were entirely clear as 
to who controlled this or that portion of territory, 
and also showed what crops could be harvested 
upon them, and the wild animals they contained. 
Cities and villages had certain portions in com- 
mon. The land, as thus divided, could not be 
sold away. 



78 THE AZTECS 

The women were not oppressed. They were 
allowed to live quiet, industrious and peaceful 
lives, caring for their children, preparing the 
household food, and doing some of the lighter 
work of the field. A few could become priest- 
esses, and these lived in the temples, clothed in a 
white garb. 

There were no shops of sale in the city ; every- 
body transacted business by sale or barter in the 
public markets, which were always immense 
enough to hold a large portion of the population. 

Polygamy was permitted, not only to the kings 
and nobility, but to individual citizens. In the 
case of the latter, however, it was not practiced 
to any wide extent. 

All the Nahuan nations were a finely formed, 
well-proportioned, tall and athletic people. Their 
skin was of a light copper, or olive color, their 
hair black, thick and coarse, but glossy, their teeth 
regular, their foreheads low and narrow, their 
eyes black, and their sense of sight peculiarly 
acute. Being agile, they were wonderful runners. 
Diaz says that one Aztec courier ran from Vera 
Cruz and return (about 420 miles by direct way) 
in four days. 

The dress of the ordinary native was simple and 
adapted to the even climate of that semi-trop- 
ical country. They all used the maxtli, or breech- 
cloth, to cover the loins, and this was usually of 
cotton cloth, about nine inches wide and twenty- 
four feet long, the great length being so that it 
might be wound first between the legs and then 
around the hips, leaving the ends to hang down in 



HISTORY 79 

front and at the back. The ends had fancy 
fringes, or tassels. Men then threw over their 
shoulders a mantle, about four feet long, knotted 
under one of the arms. This mantle for wealthy 
people was painted and ornamented with feathers 
and birds. 

Soon after children were born they were 
named, the name being chosen by their mothers, 
and a rite was performed which the Spaniards 
thought bore a striking likeness to Christian bap- 
tism. This ceremony was usually attended to by 
the midwife, who, in the presence of the relatives, 
at sunrise, set the child's face toward the west, 
addressing it in certain phrases of deference, and, 
after moistening its lips and breast with water, 
poured water on its head. Some of the phrases 
used when the water was being employed were 
like these: " Take this holy and pure water that 
thine heart may be cleansed." " Receive, O my 
son, the water of the Lord of the World, which is 
our life, with which we wash and are clean ; may 
this celestial, light-blue water enter into thy body 
and there remain; may it destroy and remove 
from thee all evil and adverse things that were 
given thee before the beginning of the world." 
Expressive and also beautiful! 

Education of Children. — Children were sent 
to school, or taught in the home, beginning with 
five years of age. They were informed, first, about 
the worship of the gods by prayer, including the 
meaning of the temple services; then the duties 
they owed their superiors, and the other primary 
virtues. Thev were instructed how to be modest 



8o THE AZTECS | 

and virtuous, that work was ennobling, that a lie 
was abominable, (the tongues of the children were 
pricked with agave-thorns when they were de- 
tected in falsehood ) , and that respect for the aged 
was absolutely essential to correct deportment. 

One of the counsels given by a parent to a child 
reads, in the Aztec literature, as follows: " Never 
lie, for it is a great sin. When thou tellest any- 
one what has been told thee, tell the simple truth, 
and add nothing thereto. Slander no one, and be 
silent in regard to the faults thou seest in others, 
if it is not thy duty to correct them. When thou 
takest a message, if the one who receives it flies 
into a passion and speaks ill of the person who 
sent it, in repeating his words modify their sever- 
ity, in order that thou mayst not be the cause of a 
quarrel, nor of a scandal for which thou wouldst 
have to reproach thyself." 

They were instructed not to talk too much, nor 
to speak foolishly, nor to mock at old men or de- 
formed people, and to submit to proper punish- 
ment in silence. In other words, the cardinal vir- 
tues common to all races having high tenets of 
morality were first taught, and then the general 
education, or the trade that seemed best to befit 
the possessor. In this respect modern educators 
might take a cue from the Aztecs. Punishment 
of disobedient children was usually corporal, and 
often brutal ; the whip and agave-thorn were 
never abolished from their schools. 

There were common schools, one in each quar- 
ter of the city, for the masses, and here children 
were taught till the age of about fifteen, when 



HISTORY 81 

they were withdrawn to follow a trade or pro- 
fession. Sons of the nobility, and those expecting 
to become priests, were sent to the college at 
Tezcuco, or a monastery near a temple, which 
was under priestly supervision. Large buildings 
were also annexed to the temples and used for 
seminaries for the girls, who, besides studying 
their religion, weaving, spinning, etc., also swept 
the temple and attended its sacred fires. 

The maguey plant (known as the American 
aloe, or century-plant), was cultivated, and per- 
haps more extensively than it is to-day, when 
hundreds of thousands of acres of it may be 
seen in various parts of Mexico. It is a 
wonderful plant, which has been termed " the 
miracle of nature," growing practically on soil 
that would otherwise be a desert, because of want 
of rain. Paper was made from its leaves, and the 
leaves were used to thatch the dwellings of the 
poor; thread, and even strong cord, were made 
from its fibres; its thorns were used as pins and 
needles; the root could be employed as food; 
threads made from it could be woven into cloth- 
ing, and its juice furnished the well-known intox- 
icating beverage called pulque, which has a pe- 
culiarly disagreeable flavor, but of which the orig- 
inal natives were excessively fond, as are the 
modern Mexicans. 

Their Floating Gardens. — Much has been 
written of the floating gardens (chinampas) of 
the Aztecs, and, naturally, many have doubted 
their existence. One who now goes by boat, as 
the custom of tourists is, upon the canal con- 



82 THE AZTECS 

necting two of the small lakes of the valley with 
Lake Tezcuco, which passes directly by the City 
of Mexico, familiarly known as La Viga, finds at 
Santa Anita, and also at points beyond, what are 
still called floating gardens, but they do not float. 
It is difficult to believe they ever did. But the 
evidence is quite in favor of the history of the 
period, which states that, when all this was a 
marshy lake, the fibrous roots which grew on the 
water were employed to sustain twigs and 
branches thrown upon them, on which two or 
three feet of black earth was placed, and that in 
this way a real garden was constructed on top 
of the water, and the whole floated there as read- 
ily as a raft. The constructors, or possessors, of 
these gardens, moved them about at will; they 
were usually not over one hundred feet long. 
There is nothing impossible or improbable about 
the matter. As these marshes have long ago dried 
up, the floating gardens are now not even islands, 
but rest securely upon the main soil below. 

Money and Merchandising. — Money was cur- 
rent, to effect sales, but none was coined. There 
were four kinds of money : grains of cacao, used as 
small change ; small squares of cotton cloth ; tiny 
nuggets of gold enclosed in duck quills; and tin, 
the latter somewhat in size and shape like our 
pieces of money. There were no weighing scales 
in use, everything being bought and sold by the 
piece or measure. 

Merchants went about the country to sell their 
goods, but nearly always in caravans for protec- 
tion from robbers. They could travel on roads, 



HISTORY 83 

for these were laid out all over the empire, and 
were repaired after sudden rains. Rivers were 
crossed by boats or rafts, or by long wooden and 
very narrow bridges, which swung like a ham- 
mock when ventured upon, yet were considered 
perfectly safe. Merchandise was carried on the 
backs of slaves. When the merchants returned 
from long journeys, they paid their tribute to the 
state, and then gave a feast to their friends. These 
merchants were in high repute with their sov- 
ereign, who often consulted with them as to what 
they had seen in their journeys, and as to events 
transpiring in different parts of the kingdom. 
They even became so powerful at court as to have 
been allowed to levy armies to wage war against 
those who had not treated them with proper re- 
spect. 

Theatres and Games. — ^Theatres were com- 
mon, the stage being a simple platform under the 
open sky near the market-places, or by the 
temples. 

Public games and private sports were also com- 
mon, both in the cities and smaller villages. Not 
the least popular of these was a game of ball, ( the 
ball was usually made of rubber, about three 
inches in diameter) , played in a large oblong field, 
enclosed with three high stone walls. The ball 
was not thrown with the hand, but struck with 
the knee, elbow, shoulder, or some other part of 
the body agreed upon, and, if it touched the op- 
posite wall, or went over it, a point was scored ; 
while if it was struck with some other part of the 
body, as the hand or fpotj a point was lost. If it 



84 THE AZTECS 

could be driven through the centre of ahole just as 
large as the ball in one of the stone images of 
idols on the end wall, the player who succeeded 
in doing it not only won the game, but the cloth- 
ing of all those present. It was said to be a dif- 
ficult feat, rarely accomplished, and when done 
the player became almost as noted as were the vic- 
tors in the great Olympian games in Greece. 
This game of ball went by the name of tlachtU. 
These and other popular open-air games were 
gambled upon, and they had regular referees — of 
priests — to settle disputes. 

Last Days of the Empire. — ^The story of what 
followed the meeting of Cortes and Montezuma 
on that November day in 15 19, when the former 
entered for the first time the City of Tenochtitlan, 
has been often told, and it is to be hoped that 
every reader of this volume, who has not already 
read it, will do so, or re-read it, to obtain the 
details, which are so instructive and interesting, 
as well as terrible. Naturally one turns to Pres- 
cott's Conquest of Mexico, as the most entertain- 
ingly interesting of any work on this sad theme. 
We can only note, with much brevity, the leading 
events in the order in which they occurred. 

Cortes, as soon as he was settled, began to 
scheme for the conquest of the city and country, 
as had been his original aim. But he was not 
precipitate. He called upon and received calls 
from Montezuma, and, in the meantime, care- 
fully studied the situation. He urged Monte- 
zuma to adopt the Christian religion, and also 
suggested that he should become .a vESsal to the 



HISTORY 85 

Spanish king, Charles/4 whom he represented 
as having actual jurisdiction over Anahuac. Mon- 
tezuma refused both offers, though at first he 
seemed to vacillate over them, as if uncertain of 
his duty and full of fears. The people became 
petulant at his indecision, and made it known 
so openlj^ that Montezuma said, No. Cortes 
feared trouble would follow from the people, and 
so put on an imperative air. He went to Monte- 
zuma's palace and charged him with perfidy, and 
demanded that, as proof of his good-will, the king 
should put his person in the hands of the 
Spaniards, nominally to be a hostage, but actually 
to continue his official rank and to remain ruler. 
The Aztec monarch reluctantly acquiesced, but 
not until threats of imprisonment by force had 
been made; left his palace, and went to reside 
with the Spaniards in their quarters. He was 
really a prisoner, and Cortes was practically king. 
Cortes was now obliged to leave the city for a 
brief period in order to defend himself against a 
new arrival of troops from Cuba under Narvaez, 
who had been sent over by Velasquez to find 
Cortes and take away his authority. He went, 
defeated the troops, and then added them as a new 
army of six hundred men to his own troops, re- 
turning with them to Tenochtitlan. During his 
absence the general left in charge, Alvarado, had 
committed a grave indiscretion. He had gone 
with some soldiers to the Great Teocalli on a fes- 
tival night, and slaughtered a number of Aztecs 
engaged in the festival. The whole population 



86 THE AZTECS 

had arisen and besieged the Spaniards in their 
quarters. 

Cortes arrived just in time to get to the gar- 
rison and take command, but even his presence 
was scarcely sufficient to avert a calamity. He 
endeavored to secure peace, but failed. The peo- 
ple were indignant at Montezuma for allowing 
himself to become a prisoner, instead of driving 
out the " white strangers," and they met and 
elected Cuitlahuatzin, brother of Montezuma, 
as their leader, who carried on an offensive war- 
fare and was afterward made king. Cortes, to 
win over the people, had Montezuma taken to the 
top of the headquarters, that he might be seen 
to be a free man and not a prisoner, and to ad- 
dress the people. He made a pitiful appeal for 
quiet and the restoration of peace, but one of the 
onlooking throng sent an arrow, which struck 
Montezuma in the head, and in a few days he was 
dead. The rumor quickly spread abroad that he 
had been poisoned. 

The death of Montezuma occurred on June 
30, 1520, after the Spaniards had been seven 
months in Tenochtitlan. 

Cortes promptly decided he must abandon the 
city, as, while he had used his abode as a fortifi- 
cation, and might hold out for some time, he saw 
that eventually his troops must all perish, as he 
was short of ammunition and provisions. Ac- 
cordingly, the next day, July i, at night, he under- 
took to leave the city. When in front of where 
now stands the Church of San Hipolito, amid 
darkness and heavy rain, he was suddenly attacked 



HISTORY 87 

on every side. A terrific struggle ensued, and it 
is computed that Cortes lost in that one night by 
death and wounds, and by prisoners taken by the 
Aztecs, four hundred and fifty of his Spanish 
troops, twenty-six horses, and four thousand Tlas- 
calan allies. The Aztecs lost far more, but they 
could replenish their losses, while he could not. 

That night is known in Mexican history as 
"La Noche Triste" ("The Melancholy Night"), 
and the spot where Cortes sat down at the end of 
the struggle, under a wide-spreading tree, — it is 
said to weep, — is still marked by the same gnarled 
old cypress, which is now standing in forlorn mag- 
nificence. It is some sixty feet in circumference, 
and is, probably, to-day, at least a thousand years 
old. The next day the captured Spaniards were 
immolated on the Great Teocalli, in full sight of 
Cortes and his remaining army. 

The Spaniards succeeded in reaching a fortified 
hill, twelve miles from Tenochtitlan, took pos- 
session of it by driving away the natives in charge, 
and here recuperated. In a week's time they again 
set out, and at Otumba, thirty-five miles from 
Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs came up in great force 
and gave battle. Cortes won, and then proceeded 
on to Tlascala, where he was well-received, and 
where he remained about four months. On De- 
cember 24, with an abundance of stores of am- 
munition and provisions, he set out to recapture 
the capital with an army of 700 infantry, 118 
arquebusiers, 86 horses, and more than 100,000 
Tlascalans. Reaching the city of Tezcuco, he 
made a league with its chieftain, who was not 



88 THE AZTECS 

then on good terms with the Aztec king, and who 
furnished him with many additional men. Other 
tribes around about contributed to the army ; it is 
said to the number of 50,000 men. Here Cortes 
constructed brigantines, and with these, and some 
16,000 Tezcucan canoes, he rowed across Lake 
Tezcuco to attack Tenochtitlan from the lake. 

In the meantime, Cuitlahuatzin had died of 
smallpox a few weeks after becoming king, and 
was succeeded by Cuauhtemoc (''Swooping 
eagle"), usually known as Guatemotzin, who had 
married the daughter of Montezuma, and was 
a most popular warrior. In fact, because of his 
subsequent conduct, his name has remained so 
popular among the Mexicans that to-day a mag- 
nificent monument to his memory stands on the 
fine boulevard leading from the City of Mexico 
to Chapultepec, while an enormous bust of him 
adorns the bank of the Viga canal, in the suburbs 
of the city. Guatemotzin was in charge of the 
defence of the capital and proved to be a superb 
general. 

All that spring and summer the Spaniards be- 
sieged and bombarded the city, making of it al- 
most a heap of ruins, but still Guatemotzin de- 
fended it against the besiegers. It was a frightful 
combat, in which Cortes lost heavily, and the loss 
of the Aztecs from all causes was computed at 
120,000. After eight months, on August 13, 
1 52 1, the end came; Guatemotzin was captured 
in a canoe as he was making flight from the city, 
and the city capitulated. This day marked the 
close of the Aztec empire. 



HISTORY 89 

After the Surrender. — Tenochtitlan was so 
desolated of people, and so destroyed by the bom- 
bardment, that Cortes did not try to live in it, but 
was obliged to rebuild it from end to end. He 
went to Coyoacan, and made his residence, or 
" palace," there in the town hall, a building which 
stands to this day. He cleansed Tenochtitlan by 
burning the dead and clearing the streets, and set 
to work to lay out a new city, which he in- 
tended should vie with the best cities of Spain 
in its broad streets, (he first filled up the canal 
with the debris), fine churches and more modern 
buildings. He only partially succeeded in this 
in his lifetime, but from that year Tenochtitlan 
was a thing of the past, and the City of Mexico 
became both a name and a reality. 

The Great Teocalli had been destroyed with 
the other temples and buildings. On the ruins of 
the former, or just beside them, a site was set 
apart for a Christian temple, and it is now cov- 
ered by the present grand Cathedral, whose cor- 
ner-stone was laid in 1573, and which was fin- 
ished in 1667, except the towers which were com- 
pleted in 1 791. 

Guatemotzin was kept a prisoner, or under 
strict surveillance, for more than three years, 
after having undergone torture to disclose what 
he had done with Montezuma's wealth of gold 
and silver. He bravely endured it, declaring fi- 
nally that he had thrown it in Lake Tezcuco, 
which was probably not true, as it was there 
searched for in vain. Cortes, in the meantime, 
was confirmed by the King of Spain in all his 



90 THE AZTECS 

authority and rights, and was made governor, 
captain-general and chief justice. 

In 1525, Cortes led an army to Central Amer- 
ica to quell a supposed rebellion, all the rest of the 
Aztec kingdom having immediately made terms, 
after the fall' of Tenochtitlan, and become a part 
of New Spain. He arrived there, however, only 
to find everything peaceful. On this journey 
Guatemotzin was accused, probably upon no just 
grounds, of conspiracy to overthrow Cortes, and 
was summarily put to death, at Tabasco,^s by be- 
ing hung upon a cypress tree. He was only about 
twenty-eight years of age at the time of his death, 
and the event has been deplored by all who have 
studied the life of Cortes as another stain upon his 
character as a ruler. 

We do not propose to follow the history of 
Cortes further, except to say that he was subse- 
quently obliged to go to Spain to defend his 
character and met the accusations successfully; 
that he made other expeditions of discovery in the 
Pacific coast as far north as California; and that 
he was presented by Charles V. with an immense 
estate at Cuernavaca, forty miles south of the 
City of Mexico, and there, as a landed estate 
owner, in buildings which still stand, he spent the 
last three years of his residence in Mexico. He 
gave up his Dona Marina to be married to one 
of his officers, Don Juan Xaramillo, assigning 
her estates in her native province ; took back his 
own wife, whom he had left in Cuba, and who 
had come to Mexico (but she speedily died, his 
enemies said from poison) ; went back to Spain, 






HISTORY 91 

and, near Seville, died, December 2, 1547, in the 
sixty-third year of his age, twenty-eight years af- 
ter he set out from Cuba to conquer the land of 
Anahuac. 

The Aztecs After the Conquest. — The history 
of the Aztecs as a people, after the fall of Tenoch- 
titlan, is one of complete subjugation to a foreign 
race. No serious attempt, headed by any recog- 
nized leader, was ever made by them to over- 
throw the Spanish domination, until it was too 
late to restore the Aztecs as a race to any control 
of the institutions and laws of their country. 
They were subdued, terrorized, and glad to be 
able to enjoy what little allotments of land were 
permitted them, on which to obtain their living. 

Within three years after the Conquest, twelve 
Franciscans, often called " The Twelve Apos- 
tles," arrived ; two years later Dominican monks 
came; and, seven j^ears later still, seven Augus- 
tinian monks; and more soon followed. They 
revolutionized the religious habits of the people, 
and every^where built churches, all in a time so 
brief that it seems like an arranged human drama. 
So little hold did Sun and Idol worship have 
upon the natives — though, of course, the change 
was superinduced by great show of force and con- 
fiscations of property — that the country was thor- 
oughly Catholic in a few decades, and, to-day, 
traditions of their ancient religion scarcely exist 
among the two millions of full-blooded Aztec de- 
scendants in Mexico, who continue to speak the 
Nahua language, but not in its purity. Occasion- 
ally, however, a traveler, who enters some lonely 



92 THE AZTECS 

spot, like a cave, or a mountain summit, reports 
that a native has been met with there silently gaz- 
ing upon some inherited, or newly-discovered, 
small idol — one which he has carried with him to, 
or has found on the spot — and has, perhaps, said 
to it some silent prayer. 

Viceroys were appointed by the king of Spain, 
who were often cruel, and often conspired against. 
Even the Inquisition was established in 1570, for 
the burning of Spanish heretics in Mexico, but, 
fortunately, Indians were unmolested, probably 
because they had not the courage to care what 
they believed, so long as they were left alone. 
New cities were built, vast acqueducts con- 
structed, more and better roads opened, stone via- 
ducts and bridges put up, gold, silver and iron 
mining carried on with vigor, and the noble 
forests were cut down for their wealth of beau- 
tiful woods, which were sent to Spain to be used 
in buildings and the arts. 

A tremendous change, local and national, re- 
ligious and civil, came at once over the land. 
Seeds were sown for future revolutions, but they 
were rather of Spaniards against Spaniards, in- 
stead of tribes against tribes. A large foreign 
population poured in, of office-holders, priests, 
merchants, fakirs, speculators and vagabonds. 
We cannot tell the story, for it would embrace the 
whole history of a turbulent colony of Spain for 
three hundred years. 

Finally, in i824-'25, the native populations, 
only partly Spanish, completely put aside the 
power of Spain itself, and became a free and inde- 




^ 




^'' Last of the Aztecs" —Country Life To-day. 



HISTORY 93 

pendent people, under the title of " The Republic 
of Mexico." 

The Aztecs of To-day. — To-day the two mil- 
lions of Aztecs in Mexico do not exist as a sep- 
arately named people among the many Indian in- 
habitants of the Republic. Intermixed with oth- 
er natives and Spaniards, they are a degenerate 
and mixed-up race, with a name only in history 
and literature. Shorter of stature than their an- 
cestors, often beautiful in physique, usually cheer- 
ful, exceedingly patient, devoted to the Catholic 
religion with a faithfulness that puts to shame the 
adherents of other religions, content to live in a 
peaceful, humdrum, uneventful way, they are 
likely to pass gradually off the stage of action in 
the next few centuries from sheer deterioration 
and racial decay. Sad that it is so, but not 
strange, for the march of the general human race 
forward is accompanied everywhere with death 
and destruction, and no man living can predict 
what the future of any particular race or nation 
will be five centuries hence. 

As one stands now upon the top of one of the 
two tall towers of the Cathedral in the City of 
Mexico, he can see, white-mantled in snow, the 
identical and towering summits of Popocatepetl 
and Ixtaccihuatl that the subjects of Montezuma 
feared and reverenced. He can view in the dis- 
tance the glistening waters of Lake Tezcuco, 
shrunken far from its former boundaries, but still 
the same lake that floated the brigantines of 
Cortes, when he returned on his final successful 
endeavor to overthrow Tenochtitlan. He can put 



94 THE AZTECS 

eyes on the summit of Chapultepec, once the royal 
abode and burial-place of the Aztec kings, now 
crowned by the Military Academy of Mexico and 
the Summer Palace of President Diaz. He can 
count up all the peaks, and can Impress upon his 
memory for all aftertlme the curved outlines of 
the grand array of mountains that girt the whole 
wide Valley of Mexico ; the same that have stood 
there since the Creator marshaled them In their 
orderly array. He will look upon miles and miles 
of verdant thatches of alfalfa, groups of grazing 
cattle, and everywhere hamlets and villages of 
wealthy and prosperous residents. By day, just 
as of yore, the same sun shines overhead. By night 
the same pale moon and stars, the same Pleiades 
and Southern Cross^^ " shed radiance mild " over 
the ghostly landscape, as In the times of the Aztec 
kings, temples and priests. He may breathe the 
same glorious atmosphere, clear as the purest crys- 
tal, wind-tossed, surcharged with life. Invigora- 
ting, Inspiring, Intoxicating, that charmed the high 
priests of the Great Teocalll on this Identical spot. 
But the grand old forests of oak and cypress have 
disappeared. The lakes are without canoes, or 
stir of life. Only the busy city below,^ with Its 
bustling throngs, bursts In upon the wide-round 
silence. Here there are strange new faces of 
modern men and women, mingling with stranger 
examples of curious remaining natives. 

The Aztecs of old have gone — who knows 
^here? — perhaps to continents, or sea-washed 
islands, immeasurably larger than any mansions 
in the Sun ! 



HISTORY 95 

NOTES ON THE TEXT. 

^It has been stated that " the Japanese in the 
United States unhesitatingly accept the American 
Indians, on the evidence of their faces, and their 
beliefs and ceremonies, as people of the same race 
with themselves." We have repeatedly noticed, 
while in Mexico, the resemblance in general ap- 
pearance between the modern Aztecs and the 
Japanese, especially among the women, and, 
have, therefore, a strong belief that somewhere be- 
tween these two races in ancient times there must 
have been a close connecting link. 

^The fullest account of this voyage of discovery 
is to be found in Da Costa's Pre-Columbian Dis- 
covery of America^ Albany, 1901. The known 
facts as to the early voyages to Greenland and 
" Vinland " will be presented in a subsequent 
volume in this " Library." 

^Francisco Hernandez de Cordova (1475- 
1526) sailed along the coast of Yucatan, and, 
while the land itself had been seen by previous 
Spanish sailors, he was the first to put foot on its 
soil. 

4T0 be exact, Cortes had with him, on arrival 
at Vera Cruz, only this small army: 553 infan- 
try, 16 horsemen and their horses, no sailors, and 
200 Cuban Indians. He also had ten large can- 
non, and four lighter guns called falconets. 

sPrescott says Montezuma was " thirty-four," 
which would indicate his birth-date as 1485. 
Another equally good authority says 1476. Oth- 



96 THE AZTECS 

ers give other dates. But as Bernal Diaz, who 
was with Cortes, and who must have made in- 
quiries on the spot, says he was born in 1479, we 
have adopted his date. 

^The Aztecs had three kinds of tobacco, and 
smoked pipes and used cigarettes. All the Ameri- 
can tribes, from the northwest of the present 
United States to Patagonia, seem to have known 
of it and of its use, and some of them used snuff. 

^The population of Tenochtitlan in 15 19 will 
never be known. Some writers put it as low as 
20,000, which we think is absurd. It could not 
have been less than 100,000 and was probably 
more. 

^Pronounced by the Aztecs Meshitl, because the 
A- in Mexitl, (or in Mexico) would have the 
sound of sh. 

^°The papyrus spoken of refers to the paper 
made from the maguey, or aloe, plant; not the 
papyrus plant known to the Egyptians. 

"It is not certain, but only probable, that the 
Aztec year began on Feb. 2. 

"'' Pesos de oro " means the gold peso, which 
is, to-day, in U. S. currency, worth a fraction less 
than twenty cents. 

^^Charles V. (1500-1558) was also " Emperor 
of the Holy Roman Empire." He was made king 
of Spain in 15 16, as Charles I.; became emperor 
of the larger empire in 15 19. He abdicated the 
throne of Spain in 1556 to his son, Philip II. He 
was king of Spain during all the time of Cortes 
in Mexico. 



HISTORY 97 

^sTabasco is now a state of Mexico. It is in 
the extreme southeastern end of Mexico, adjoin- 
ing Guatemala. 

^^The famous constellation of the Southern 
Hemisphere is visible as far north as Mexico dur- 
ing certain seasons of the year. 

(^V ^v (^ 

BEST WORKS IN ENGLISH 
ON THE AZTECS. 

Bancroft, Hubert H. *' Native Races of 
America " in Bancroft's Works. 5 vols. 
San Francisco, 1883. 

vPrescott, William H. "Conquest of Mexi- 
co." 3 vols. 

Short^ " The North American Indians of An- 
tiquity." New York, 1879. 
' Helps, Sir Arthur. " Spanish Conquest of 
America." 4 vols. New ed. New York, 
1904. 

Chevalier^ M. '' Mexico, Ancient and Mod- 
ern." 2 vols. London, 1864. 

Bandelier, Adolph F. A . (Various works on 
American Archaeology). 

Windsor, Justin. *' Narrative and Critical 
History of America." In Vol. i. New 
/^^ York, 1889. 

Bayard; Lucien. "Aztecs, Their History," etc. 
Chicago, 1900. 



98 THE AZTECS 

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES. 
Earlier Years. 

Toltecs founded Tula A. D. 648 

Toltecs left Tula 1051 

Aztecs left Aztlan 1090 

Reform of Aztec calendar 1091 

Aztecs arrived at Chicomoztec, Mexico. . . 11 16 

Aztecs reached Tula ? ^ 

Aztecs at Chapultepec 1 194 

Aztecs on Island of TIzaapan 1297 

Aztecs at Coyoacon 1 300 

Aztecs founded Tenochtltlan 1325 

Aztec Kings of Tenochtitlan (1350-15 19). 

First king, Acamaplchtll II 1350 

Second king, Huitzlllhultl II 1403 

Third king, Chlmalpopoca 1417 

Fourth king, Itzcoatl 1428 

Fifth king, Motecahzoma (Montezuma) I. 1440 

Sixth king, Axayacatl 1 469 

Seventh king, TIzoc 148 1 

Eighth king, Ahuitzotl i486 

Great Teocalli dedicated i486, or 1487 

Ninth king, Motecahzoma (Montezuma) 

II 1503 

Last festival of Aztec Cycle 1506 

Events After Arrival of Spaniards. 

Cortes landed at Vera Cruz. . . .April 21, 15 19 

Cortes entered Tenochtitlan. .November 8, 15 19 



HISTORY 



90 



Tenth king, Cuitlahuatzin 1520 

Cortes driven from Tenochtitlan . . .July i, 1520 

Eleventh king, Guatemotzin 1520 

Tenochtitlan capitulated; end of Aztec 

Empire August 13, 1521 

Death of Cortes, aged 62 years 

December 2, 1547 

Jt Ji ^ 

INDEX TO CONTENTS. 



Acamapichtli I,, 19 

Acamapichtli II., 19 

Ahuitzotl, 21, 49 

Alcolhuans, 14, 20 

Anahuac, 15 

Arts, 70 

Axayacatl, 21 

Aztecs origin, 6; chronology, 
14 ; history in brief, 16 ; 
list of kings, 19 ; Cortes 
meeting Montezuma, 23, 
35 ; Montezuma, 30 ; de- 
scription of Tenochtitlan, 
38 ; palace of Montezuma, 
41 ; Great Teocalli, 43 ; 
sacrifice of life, 48 ; re- 
ligion, 50 ; marriage and 
funeral rites, 60 ; calen- 
dar, 62 ; laws and courts, 
66 ; food and medicine, 67; 
skill in arts, 70 ; litera- 
ture, 72 ; language, 75 ; 
education, 79 ; floating 
gardens, 81 ; money and 
merchandising, 82 ; thea- 
tres and games, 83 ; last 
days of, 84 ; after the Con- 

Suest, 91 ; Aztecs of to- 
ay, 93 
Aztlan, 10 
Baptism, 79 
Calendar, 62 
Calendar Stone, 64 
Canals, 40 



Chapultepec, 15, 17, 20, 35 

Chicimecs, 14 

Chicomoztec, 15 

Children, 79 

Chimalpopoca, 20 

Cholula, 12, 27, 56 

Chronology, 14 

City of Mexico. 89, 93 

Clothing, 78 

Cortes, early career, 24 ; first 
battle, 24 ; meets Malin- 
che, 25 ; banner of, 25 ; 
fight with Tlascalans, 27 ; 
at Cholula, 28 ; enters 
Tenochtitlan, 35; meeting 
with Montezuma, 35 ; im- 
prisons Montezuma, 85 ; 
returns to coast, 85; aban- 
dons Tenochtitlan, 87 ; 
reaches Tlascala, 87 ; cap- 
tures Tenochtitlan, 88 ; 
subsequent career, 90 

Courts, 66 

Coyoacan, 15, 89 

Cremation, 61 

Cuauhtemoc, 88 

Cuitlahuatzin, 86 

Culhuacan, 15 

Customs, 77 

Floating Gardens, 8i 

Food 67 

Funerals, 60 

Games, 83 

Gods, 52 

LrfC. 



lOO 



THE AZTECS 



Guatemotzin, 88 

Hieroglyphics, 74 

Huitzilihuitl II., 19 

Huitzilopochtli, 44, 45, 54 

Human sacrifices, (See Sac- 
rifices) 

Iztaccihuatl, 29 

Itzcoatl, 20 

Language, 75 

Laws, 66 

Literature, 71 

Malinche, (Marina), 25, 38, 90 

Marriages, 60 

Mayas, 11,48 

Medicine, 67 

Merchants, 82 

Mexitl, 54 

Monc)', 82 

Monks, 91 

Montezuma I., 21 

Montezuma II., description 
of, 30 ; coronation of, 32 ; 
laws of, 33; luxuriousness 
of, 34; meeting Cortes, 35; 
palace of, 41 ; imprison- 
ment of, 85 ; death of, 86 

Mythology, 51 

Nahuas, 11 

Nezahualcoyotl, 53 

Paper, 81 

Polygamy, 78 



Popocatepetl, 29 

Priests, 31, 48, 58 

Pyramids of Sun and Moon, 12 

Pulque, 69, 81 

Quetzalcoatl, 28, 55, 57 

Religion, 50 

Sacrifices, 22, 33 

Sacrificial Stone, 46 

Tabasco, 24, 90 

Tenochtitlan, founding of, 16; 
kings, 19 ; general de- 
scription, 38 ; palace of 
Montezuma, 41 ; Great 
Teocalli, 43 ; Cortes en- 
ters, 35 ; Cortes leaves, 87; 
capture of, 88 

Teocalli, Great, 22, 39, 43, 48, 
89 

Teotl, 52 

Tepanecs, ao 

Tezcatlipoca, 46, 54 

Tezcuco, IS, 30, 35, 41 

Theatres, 83 

Tizaapan, 15 

Tizoc, 21, 46 

Tlaloc, 55 

Ttascalans, 26, 29, 33 

Toltecs, II, 59, 65 

Tula, II, 65 

Viceroys, 92 

Zaremba, C. W., 80 




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